The Pokémon Project
by ShadowOfTheAuthor
Summary: A TF fic. An orphan boy named Maxwell is offered the choice of a lifetime: To willingly become a Pokémon in the name of science. Will he do it? And will he become friends - possibly even family - with the others that took that chance? Please R&R!
1. My New Beginning

**A/N: UPDATED: Seeing as how Chapter 10 is out, I decided that these first few chaps went long enough without a few polishing edits! Hopefully these amend a few silly literary woes that I made throughout the story. Don't worry too much, I just fixed a few spelling/grammar mess-ups and changed bits of the dialogue and so on (but nothing that alters the story much). For all new readers, I encourage ye all to read on, and review! **

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**THE POKéMON PROJECT**

_~ A Pokémon Fanfic By: TheAuthorGl1m0 ~_

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_To my dear cousin Wendel,_

_How are you? To me, it seemed like forever since we've last been in contact. Even though it has been only been a few weeks in reality... Time flies, I guess. So much stuff has been going on with me lately, and I'm pretty sure—knowing how inquisitive you are—you've been on top of it. _

_I already explained in my last letter what happened to me, and to answer the question in your reply, it's not as bad as it may seem. Sure, it's harder to do things I could do normally when I was human, but to be perfectly honest, I don't miss many of them. Especially school. Bleck. Sorry if I'm rubbing that in your face, I know you're still in high school and all, heh. _

_Anyway, I must admit that all this recent attention over that 'incident' earlier is kinda getting to me. What, with nearly every Joe on the block recognizing me instantly and drawing even more attention to me. They're calling me a hero and stuff! Not that I don't like it, mind; I really do like being recognized for doing something good. Me and Lily are going great, and the dealio with Brian is better than me and my new brothers and sisters could ever hope for! _

_I'm glad to get out of that stuffy facility (for good this time) and trade for a nice, warm, proper house. Isn't that weird, I'm not even human anymore and yet I still want to live in a human house! I do miss the old place though... I met all my friends and whoever else there, and it's also where I...you know... _

_Well, anyway, I should wrap this up by saying: "Don't burn anything down! ...Unless you have water handy." Worked for me so many times...especially with Samantha always going and igniting some random thing on a regular basis, and with me and Mary having to always deal with it. Worse? We're moving into a _wooden_ house! Wish us luck!_

_Your distant cousin,_

_Maxwell_

* * *

**6 WEEKS EARLIER...**

My name is Maxwell. No last name, just Maxwell. Always has been. People call me 'Max' as well, if they're too lazy to say my full name. In case you didn't know, I'm an orphan. I never remember having any parents, but these people here say that my real parents were killed years ago in a nasty car crash soon after I was born. Not that it really matters now anyway...

All I can remember of my life is living at this orphanage, with pretty much zero friends and relatives. ...Well, except for my distant cousin, Wendel. I write to him as often as I can, so we like to stay in touch with each other on a regular basis. It helps make me a little less lonely I guess. I know he's several years older than me (I'm 12, he's 16), but I like talking to him through mail. He actually stoops to my level to be 'buddies', and I suppose that's the best I can hope for in this life o' mine.

So, I sound like a pretty decent kid, right? Well, truthfully, I'm not quite so kind. I don't really like any of the other kids here at the orphanage. They like to pick on me a lot, but I'm not really sure why. Maybe because I'm skinny? Or perhaps I act a bit sappy sometimes? Regardless, they don't like me, and I don't like them back. I'm a bit of a recluse you see. I don't "socialize" very well.

Even so, there _was_ this one time when a friendlier-than-usual kid approached me and asked if I wanted to be friends with him. Ordinarily, I would've said "Yes", but I had just come out of a verbal beat-down with some of the other kids, so I wasn't in a very pleasant mood. I told him to go away and leave me alone, then I ran from him. Admittedly, I felt really bad about that incident. That kid only wanted a friend, so why couldn't I just have the proper reasoning to say yes to him? I blamed myself, but I mostly blamed those mean kids for being that way in the first place. Afterward I made up to that kid somewhat by apologizing and explaining my 'mood'. He seemed okay with it, and we hung out for a while until he was adopted a few weeks later. I sometimes wonder how he's doing nowadays...

Er, anyway, back to my point. Nothing a whole lot has happened to me in terms of importance or greatness, but then again, not a whole lot of people end up like that. I'm just a simple, normal, totally human boy. I guess the world just doesn't care about people like me. Oh well, I'm not anything special.

...Not _yet_, anyway.

* * *

_**Wednesday, June 9 – Genta City Orphanage – Room 213**_

_'Well, another day, another dime,'_ I thought as I rose from my bed, weary from the previous night's activity. Last night, I had attended a small show in the orphanage's theater. It was a rather boring play written by some playwright from the 16th or 17th century or something, but it actually had a really tragic story.

It was called _Romeo and Juliet. _I've heard from loose talk that it's some kind of romantic play of the limits of true love and whatever else. I honestly didn't care for it, but they made us watch it anyway. But once I got to see it...well, it was a bit _more_ than just a love story. It's about how the title characters, Romeo and Juliet, both fall in love with each other even though they were of rival families. That didn't stop them, since they got married in secret, but some bad things happened as a result of it. At the end—sorry if I'm spoiling this for you, but apparently everyone already knows so what is there to spoil?—both Romeo and Juliet die (having killed themselves), and their families finally end a seemingly eternal feud by making up at last. Huh. It took the deaths of their son and daughter (one from each family), to finally end a pointless fight like that. Not even considering the numerous others that died fighting each other, too.

In retrospect, it was kinda stupid, but it did make me realize that...not _every_ story _has_ to have a happy ending. That made me start to think about myself more than anyone. Selfish? Maybe. But if you were in my position, then you'd have done the same thing. I thought about _my_ happy ending... _My_ dreams of doing...something _meaningful_... But... this old play made me realize that, contrary to most movies and books, not every dream was meant to be. I know this sounds sad, but it's reality. Does this means my hopeful future shouldn't happen...? Argh... So many contradictions...

After getting out of bed and stretching my tired limbs, I went to the nearby dresser and slipped on my favorite clothing. It must have been laundry night last night, as the shirt, socks and pants felt clean and fresh. Laundry is usually twice a week, depending how lazy the caretaker lady decides to be. I can't blame her, I mean, who _really_ wants to clean a bunch of soiled underwear that belongs to a bunch of kids? You wouldn't catch me dead doing that. I wonder how much money she makes for having to put up with that...

My usual routine consists of mostly hanging around my room and not doing much else, since I prefer staying away from those mean kids. Occasionally though, one or two of them would come by the door to hassle me. Fortunately, there is supposed to be some kind of sports thing going on in the field right about now, so that pretty much guaranteed my freedom for most of the day.

Bored, I strolled around my room, before finally picking up a book on the shelf, which was hung (semi)lovingly near the bed. Titled _"Evolution of Man", _it explained a lot of details about how the human race came to be, and (supposedly) how smart it was and is. I swear, if the guy who wrote this ever saw some of the guys I know in action, then he'll have to completely rewrite this book. Still, it was very intriguing to me to learn about the science of this kind of thing... Genetics and all that. I bet I know more than anyone else in my Grade 7 science class would learn in university...

...Okay, that's kind of stretching it, but you know what I mean.

Still feeling rather tired, and with the desire for breakfast very faint (perhaps even non-existent), I lay back down in bed, hoping to fall asleep and be left alone for a while. Sadly, that wish was quashed minutes later by a knock at my room door.

_"Maxwell! Maxwell! Are you awake yet?"_ a voice said, making me jump from my moment of dozing. _"You have a visitor! Open up please!"_

Somehow, I wanted to ignore this, but the talk of "visitor"—code word for _"adopter"—_made me get up and open the door. Standing behind the door was both a women and a man. The woman is the "House-Mother" here at the orphanage, an old, frail, yet calm and polite woman with graying hair, slightly short and plump figure, and those faded brown eyes of hers mostly hidden behind a pair of thick glasses.

The man was a person I had never seen before. He was a tall (about 6 foot something), middle-aged man with slightly ruffled brown hair, green eyes, and also wearing glasses, though they weren't quite as thick as the older woman's pair. The man wore a blank white coat, almost like... a lab coat? Just looking at him, he seemed to fit the profile of a typical scientist... though, he didn't seem as cold or unfeeling as most typically are. He looked rather calm and content, and when our eyes met he even held out his hand in greeting.

"Good to meet you, Max!" the 'scientist' said rather cheerfully. "My name is Brian. I work at PokéGene Inc., that's the place where—"

"Where they work on DNA and other medical stuff... I've heard about that place, actually," I said, finishing his sentence.

Oddly enough, Brian didn't seem mad about me interrupting him. In fact, he seemed rather pleased. "Well now! You're quite educated aren't you? I like that! It shows much promise."

I stared at him blankly, unsure why he was here to see me. "Ummm... thanks? Nice to meet you...uh...Brian," I said, taking his hand somewhat hesitantly and shaking it.

The House-Mom (let's just called her 'Mother', to keep it simple, even though she clearly isn't my real one) decided now was the time to speak up. "Good morning, Maxwell. Are you doing okay today?" she asked in her usual warm, motherly tone.

"F-fine, thanks," I replied, still looking at Brian. "Uh...why are you here, Brian? And how do you know me?"

Brian chuckled. "The House-Mother has told me all about you, Max," he said. "She told me of your history, life, and other relevant information. I'm very interested in your case."

I was starting to feel a bit nervous. Interested in my case? What's _that_ supposed to mean? Why would a scientist...?

"As for why I'm here," Brian continued, "it's because...well... Mother, could you leave me and Maxwell alone for a minute? I just want to talk to talk to him one-on-one, if you don't mind."

"Oh, I understand completely sir," Mother replied. "I'll just be outside, call me when you are done, yes?"

Brian nodded and the Mother left the room, shutting the door behind her. Me and the scientist were now alone, which made me feel quite uneasy. Brian sat down on a nearby chair, and I sat on my bed, so we were face-to-face.

Personally, I hate confrontations like this, especially if it's about bad news. But the scientist didn't seem downtrodden at all, he actually seemed quite at ease. He removed his glasses, took out a handkerchief, then began cleaning the lens before putting them back on. Brian cleared his throat and began at last.

"So, you have...no family?" he asked, still smiling but his tone quite serious.

I gave him a strange look. "Ummm...? Yeah? That's why I'm an orphan, right? I do...uh...I have a distant cousin, but he lives way far away..."

"I see then. Just wanted to make sure," Brian said, then he started looking through some documents he was holding. I did not care to see what they were, as I thought it had little to do with me.

I scanned the room nervously for a bit while Brian seemed to gather his thoughts. Then without thinking much, I suddenly asked, "What is this about? Why the heck did a scientist like you come here looking for me?"

The scientist's smile slowly faded. "You see... I have a unique proposition for you... But, if you're not interested in my ideals then we will find someone else." He looked back up at me. "You may find this offer startling...maybe even surreal...but I won't lie about anything to you here."

"You...I...what?" I asked, confused. "What do you mean by a 'unique proposition'?"

Brian quietly chuckled, almost as if amused. "Yes, it is indeed. But before I tell you that, I must tell you what we are undergoing at PokéGene Inc. Is that alright? I'll be brief."

"That's...fine, I guess. Just be sure to tell me what's what at the end, okay?"

"Agreed." The scientist cleared his throat and began. "Now then... Ahem... At the PokéGene labs, we have been striving to remove the barrier between Pokémon and Human, both psychologically...and physically. We believe that by doing so, we can learn more about ourselves and someday achieve a great medical breakthrough."

"And...what is that supposed to mean...?" I inquired, starting to catch on to what he was saying, and a feeling of dread slowly rose inside me.

"I was just getting to that. Our initial experiments consisted of simply mixing human and Pokémon DNA, but the results were...so to say...mixed. Heh. Some succeeded and continue to live on today, while others...went the way of the Bastiodon. That is to say, died out."

My mouth dropped open. "Wait...you merged Pokémon...and human...together? Y-you _can't_ be serious..."

"I already said I wasn't going to lie to you. I'm dead serious," Brian said, adjusting his glasses so that they briefly shimmered creepily. "Now then, after the ill-fated 'PokéHybrid' trials, we turned our gaze to inducing _complete_ Pokémon metamorphoses. _Much_ more complicated process, yes...but highly efficient. I have managed to produce a working formula, dubbed CPT-019, that has achieved what we were hoping for. And with the by-products of this technology going to medical research, we could potentially learn something about Pokémon anatomy and function, create more advanced formulas, or even at long last cure incurable diseases such as Cancer and AIDS... Well, truthfully, we've yet to produce such a result, but our CPT formula has smoothed over very well so far. Five others, much like yourself in age and background, have already volunteered for the program. This program...is known as _Project Pokémon_. I am here to ask you: Are you willing to participate as well?"

I said nothing. Most sane people would've spat a big, fat, _NO_ on the spot, but it was safe to say I wasn't normal. I considered this proposition with actual interest. If what I am hearing and assuming is right, they are wondering if I want to willingly become a...Pokémon? What should I say? I _could_ refuse, but then what would I do with my life? Live a boring, non-purposeful existence? Like heck I would.

...But then again, becoming a Pokémon is a one-way journey, I'm assuming, so there would likely be no going back from it. Human interaction (as in talking) would be pretty much knocked down to zero, that's for sure. But it's not like I have anyone to interact with anyway...

Brian looked at me expectantly, but when I responded with nothing more than a totally flabbergasted expression he sighed. "I understand that this proposition is rather shocking, yes, but I must explain my case."

"You...you do that," I said almost mechanically, feeling weirdly hollow from shock.

"Very well..._ A-hem_... We are fully aware that this project may not appeal to some...but, in the name of science, it must be done. Please bear with me, this whole operation is barely legal as it is. We've had to wait for FDA approval on the latest batch of formula for a whole of several months. We've been asking around child orphanages lately—"

"Hold up," I interrupted. "Why just...kids? Why can't you use grown-ups or whoever?"

Brian adjusted his glasses again, coughing a bit. "Yes, well, you see, children and adolescents are more responsive to our CPT formula than adults are. I could explain the science behind it, but you're just a kid, Max, so I can't really expect you to know that." He arched an eyebrow and smiled. "...Or could I? I _have_ looked at your file you know..."

I shrugged, the shock of Brian's proposal starting to wear off...kinda. "I probably _would_, but...well, you don't need to explain it, it doesn't really matter to me," I told him, then I bit my lip. "...Um, does it?"

"Well, in hindsight, not really. I'll just say it has something to do with still-developing bodies, less-complicated cell structure, and easier 'molds' to work with...so that should give you an idea."

...Actually, it doesn't. Well, not an idea that sounds very _nice_, mind you...

"Anyway, as I was saying, we've been asking around orphanages to find potential volunteers. We don't just randomly ask, we do a lot of research on potential subjects, like I've done with you."

Curious, I decided to ask, "What have you found out?" I know this question may seem a little dumb, or perhaps unnecessary, but I had to be sure.

The scientist smiled a tiny bit. "Well, a lot of things. I know about your habits, your life here at the orphanage, your parents—sorry that you never got to know them, my condolences—and your little, shall we say, social troubles?"

I winced at this. When those mean kids would pick on me, it was usually (if not _always_) embarrassing. I would rather those memories have a lid on them at all times, but knowing it was _on record_ stung me a little bit. Which begged the question, "How did anyone find out about that?"

"A little bit of sleuthing," Brian said with a little wink. Odd, this man never would've struck me as the nosy type. "And some 'connections', if you catch my drift," he continued. Odder still, he even seemed a little bit shady...

"I..._think_ I do," I said slowly, staring at the scientist with a look that screamed, _'What the heck?' _

Brian laughed—laughed, for God's sake—and adjusted his glasses once again before switching back to his 'serious' look. "Okay, jokes aside, I really need to know. Would you rather come with me and join history in the making...or do you want to stay here, be ignored, and left to a potentially bleak future? ...It doesn't matter what you decide, I won't force you. No pressure, or anything. This _is_ a free country after all."

Holy _crap_. If this was a joke, I was buying it one hundred and ten percent. What_ do _I do? ...Alright, pros and cons time. Pros: I get to be a Pokémon, _and_ I get to escape from this place—and those kids. Cons: ...Well, I suppose it'll vary depending on exactly which Pokémon they make me into. Do I at least have a say in that?

"Umm, do I get to choose which Pokémon? You know...to...become?" I asked, somewhat afraid of asking this.

Brian suddenly seemed to brighten up, possibly thinking I was going to accept his offer. "Of course you will! Granted, they will be a few restrictions, such as availability and complexity and such. For example, we can only induce a transformation into a base-level form of a Pokémon—anything higher on the evolutionary scale aren't compatible. And only certain kinds can be done. For now, at least. And another thing to note is that there's no going back from a CPT procedure. Given the nature of the formula, it _is _possible to use it to change back... But, the genetic and molecular structure in your body would be unable to handle that stress, and you'll more than likely not...well, y'know. I'll explain it all in more detail later, _if_ you're still interested of course."

I thought about the subject intensely. Those restrictions seemed pretty reasonable to me, as it only makes sense, but the fact that there's no turning back from such a change was a little disturbing. But...that's just me being paranoid again. It certainly couldn't be worse though, right? Brian was eying me expectantly, and so the pressure was turned on high, and building.

I stared the man straight in the eye and took a deep breath. Praying silently this was the right thing to do, I finally answered his question. "...S-Sure, I'll do it." _Here goes nothing..._

"Y-You will? Great! You have my thanks, Maxwell," Brian said, rather overjoyed at his success, but still somehow managed to keep his composure. "I will go ahead and make the necessary release forms, then we'll go to the facility at once. I would suggest getting your things together while I go talk over things with the Mother. I'll be sure to tell you everything there is to know later. See you in a bit, then!"

He left out the door, and met with Mother outside in the halls. I paid no attention to their chatter, and instead began rummaging around my room, getting whatever junk I had and tossing it into a little bag. Truthfully, I had very little possessions of worth to my name. All I had was a small, teardrop-shaped silver charm, a tiny blue baseball cap (I had it since I was three, couldn't let go of it...), a couple of books (including "Evolution Of Man", which I elaborated on earlier), and a broken PokéGear (I never can take care of things like that...).

Once my things were stuffed away (I also managed to sneak a couple of my favorite blankets in the bag, thank goodness no one noticed), I took a final look at my "home" of twelve years, then went into the hallway...only to find that no one was there anymore.

I figured that they had gone down to the office, where all the paperwork stuff is done, so I began trekking down the empty halls of the orphanage by my lonesome. I peeked into a few of the rooms on my way down, and as I suspected, pretty much everyone was gone (as they were at the sports event). Occasionally, I'd pass a room with a kid who's more interested in reading books or playing games or whatever, but either they never noticed me, or _did_ notice me but chose to ignore me. Feh, nuts to them.

At last, after traversing the maze that was the orphanage, I arrived at the office door. I reached for the knob, but at that very moment it suddenly turned and the door swung open. I jumped back in surprise, but then saw that the person behind the door was none other than Brian.

"Max! Well isn't this a surprise?" he said, seeming surprised by my, um...'surprise' appearance. "I was just coming to get you, since I just had those forms filled out. You got your things?"

With a somewhat forced smile, I nodded.

"Great! I suppose you can consider yourself 'adopted'!" Brian said, smiling.

_Adopted..._ That's a word I've been waiting to hear for a _long_ time. Sure, I'm only being "adopted" just because of some crazy experiment and whatnot that Brian here had cooked up, but it didn't really matter to me. For once, I was wanted. That alone made me happy. He even had mentioned "five others just like me". If that's true, then could we all possibly be friends? Family? I could only hope, as I had no idea what to expect from this point on.

I followed Brian out the front double doors, turning back to wave goodbye at the Mother, who was waving as well. If there was anyone at all in that place that I liked, it had to be the House-Mother. She was always supportive of me, and really helped keep me going through the years. Though I do feel bad about saying this, I wouldn't want to stay _just_ because she is there to help make things easier. She can't stop those bullies _every_ time you know.

As I stepped into Brian's car (on the passenger side), he struck up a quick conversation.

"So, before we head on down to the lab do you wanna stop off at a fast-food place?" Brian asked as he clicked his seat-belt.

I was quite taken aback by this. I hadn't been "adopted" for more than a few minutes and the man was already offering me a free meal! What a guy. I hastily accepted and we drove off.

At this point I began to wonder... what kind of Pokemon should I be? There are, if I remember correctly, more than 600 kinds in the world. That should give plenty of options I guess! But then when you consider restrictions... Well, I had no idea which to be, but I had to make that decision fast, and it _had_ to be absolute. Like Brian said, there's no going back from this choice...

...Hm...how foreboding...

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**A/N: And that's the updated first chapter, readers new and old! There isn't much to say that hasn't already been said, so I'll just say, 'Review where it's due, osha!'**

**Until next update, fare thee well! **

**-TheAuthorGl1m0 **


	2. My New Life

**A/N: UPDATED: Like Chapter 1, this chapter is next to receive an update. Same as before, just some grammar and spelling updates, yadda yadda. And maybe I edited some of the parts that I didn't really like much initially. Just read the chapter, will you? :P**

**Enjoy, and please Review!**

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_**Wednesday, June 9 – Genta City Outskirts**_

Well, we've arrived at last at this 'facility'. This was honestly the most tense ride in a car I've ever had, but Brian was kind enough to stop at a fast food place for some burgers. No one had ever just...well, _done_ that for me before... Usually I'd have to pay out of my own pocket (with money I received from Mother, who would give out a weekly "allowance" of sorts), but Brian never even asked for an extra quarter or whatever. I had almost thirty Pokédollars on me, but he covered the whole fee without the slightest hesitation. Wow, I guess he really does have a heart...

...Or can people really be this generous? I can't even begin to wonder why, though. Almost everyone I know is usually so selfish... I'll even admit, _I_ can dip into that territory on occasion...

It's actually hard to believe Brian is a scientist. I mean, the guy is _dressed_ like one, but he doesn't _act_ like one. Most scientists that you see on TV or whatever seem like really boring, technical guys with a droll sense of humor (that is to say, none). I asked the man why he was being so nice to me, and he just shrugged.

"It's just who I am," Brian answered. "I treat everyone with as much respect as they deserve. You in particular, along with those five other kids, deserve a special kind of respect."

I gazed at him curiously. "And that would be?"

He chuckled. "Well, obviously you need to be cared for. You're all orphans after all, one way or another. And I was the one who adopted you all too, so...I guess that makes me your "father"! Haha, well, you get my point."

He was silent for a moment.

"...You know, I trust you, Max. My question is, can you trust me back?"

I was taken a bit off-guard by the question. Brian trusts me already? Well, I guess he struck me as being a kind, polite and smart kid, which isn't really all that false (sorry if I'm seeming a bit full of myself), but how can he all of a sudden trust me when we hardly know each other? And he's asking if I trust _him?_ Eeesh, how do I answer that? Honestly, I _do_ trust him a bit, but is that genuinely considered _real _trust?

Still unsure, I responded, "Well...I _suppose_ I do." Wow, _that_ was convincing.

Brian raised an eyebrow at me. "'Suppose you do'? Really now?" he said, throwing in a cheap laugh to lighten the situation.

"Okay, okay...I _do_ trust you," I said, a little embarrassed. "You haven't lied to me yet; you came out with all that stuff plainly and honestly... So yeah, I can trust you."

This seemed to satisfy him, since he smiled.

Pulling into the facility's parking lot (which was pretty small, not surprising as the place has few staff or visitors), he found a tight little spot and set the vehicle to park.

"Alright," he said, undoing his seat-belt, "here we are. Mind the step, it's a bit tricky."

I undid my own seat-belt, then left the vehicle. Looking up at the building before us, I saw it wasn't really all that huge, roughly the size of a normal apartment building. A sign that read _**"PokéGene Incorporated"**_ was on one side of the facility. A rather bland building, to be sure, but at least it seemed more..."modern" than the orphanage.

Following Brian up to the building's entrance, I got a really weird sensation, and I hesitated before entering. Something in my gut told me this would be the last time I would be outside. Outside as a human, anyway. But what did I expect? I knew that was me reminding myself that they're going to turn me into a Pokémon. But hey, that was precisely why I came here. I suppose if I had very much to live for, I would've turned their offer down, but I didn't, so I accepted. Pushing away these foreboding sensations, and taking a last look at the natural world around me, I stepped through the door and into the building.

* * *

_**Entrance Lobby - PokéGene Inc. Facility**_

The first thing I noticed when I entered the facility is that it's very stuffy. Of course, it seemed not much different than a typical office building, so it didn't bug me _that_ much. I caught sight of Brian, who was talking to the secretary lady, so I rushed over to see him.

He turned, and saw me approach. "Ah! Here he is!" he said, then looked back at the secretary. "Marilyn, this is Maxwell, the boy I was talking about."

The secretary, a young-looking brunette apparently named Marilyn, bowed slightly. "I'm pleased to meet you Maxwell. I hope that you find your time here meaningful," she said rather warmly.

"Th-thanks," I replied, smiling weakly. "I...hope so too."

Marilyn giggled and began speaking to Brian. "Okay, we have everything already prepared. CPT-019/6 is ready as well, it just needs a DNA candidate. Dr. Peters is in the Testing Room, and he's expecting you two."

Right about now, I started to get that sickening feeling in my stomach, the kind that you usually feel when about to see a doctor, appointment, or whatever else like that. I'm pretty sure the expression is "butterflies in your stomach". Whatever label you prefer to slap on it, I was pretty antsy.

Brian noticed my disturbed look, and so he came to my side and reassured me. "Don't worry about a thing, it'll be a lot easier than you might think. Dr. Peters—you can call him Frank, since that's his first name—will explain everything to you. We've done this successfully five times already, so what do you _think_ will happen?"

"Uhrmm... It should be...okay then?" I said, feeling comforted a bit.

"Of course it will! Don't worry, Frank is a really nice guy. He can be a bit...well, Frank-ish sometimes, but he always means well."

_"Frank-ish? And what is THAT supposed to mean?" _I wanted to say, but I held my mouth shut and smiled a bit. But still, with those darn butterflies...

"Oh, hang on," the secretary Marilyn interjected. "Your bag...you can put it over on the chair there. I'll put it in your room later, 'k?"

"Thanks...again," I answered, and carefully placed it on a nearby chair, then followed Brian to where we were going.

He led me down a short hallway, until we came to a door that read _'Testing Room'. _"This is it," Brian said slowly, and he opened the door and ushered me inside, then shut it behind him. To my surprise, the so-called 'Testing Room' looked almost nothing like those experimenting labs you'd expect to find in movies or on TV.

It seemed to be nothing more than a rather homely-looking room, obviously to put any volunteers at ease, with a few chairs and small worktable. The only thing remotely medical/experiment-ish was a metal operating table, and even that was topped with a foam mattress of sorts. A tiny end-table with a tray of needles and general doctor equipment was here too. It was a bit less stuffy in here than outside in the halls, even.

As I looked around the room, I barely noticed Dr. Peters come up and greet me. "Hello, you must be Maxwell. I'm Dr. Peters, but you can call me 'Frank' if you want," he said, introducing himself.

I didn't respond, as I was mesmerized by the almost-comforting atmosphere of the room, so Brian had to gave me a little nudge to wake me up. Once I came to my senses, I looked at Dr. Peters and said hi back to him. Dr. Peters seemed to be a much older man than Brian, at least 60 or 70 years old maybe, with pale white hair, faded, tired-looking blue eyes, and seemed a bit...down-to-earth. Unlike Brian, he wasn't wearing glasses. He did wear the same kind of lab coat and pants though.

"It's nice to meet you at last," he greeted, offering a handshake that I quickly accepted. "You know, we took one look at your file and knew right away that we had someone special, isn't that right Brian?" the old scientist said.

Brian looked up at Frank and smiled. "You know it. I had a feeling that Max here would accept...though not without some careful thought, right?"

I looked at him and nodded. "Uh, yeah..."

"Great! Now then, Frank, just tell Maxwell here everything he needs to know about the procedure. Just so he won't be so nervous, alright?"

Dr. Peters nodded in understanding and led me over to a grouping of three chairs, all facing each other in a circle (as if this was a perfectly planned operation), and we each sat down in one. Again, that fear of confrontation came about, but here I didn't really have to ask questions, as Frank obviously had a speech all organized.

"Now then," he began, "please pay attention, as this information is very important. For this procedure, we will be using the formula known as CPT-019, as I believe Brian may have already told you. This formula is a miracle of genetic engineering. It is a powerful chemical agent that can be likened to a cancer on steroids—oh, don't look so shocked, it's perfectly harmless, I assure you—by spreading through your body rapidly while replacing your current genetic code with any alternative DNA that the formula is 'plugged-in' with. In this case, we use Pokémon DNA. Once your DNA is rewritten, the formula induces a heavy physical metamorphosis to match the DNA coding. Admittedly, this process can be quite...unpleasant, which is why we've added an anesthetic into the mix. You'll pass out before anything can happen, and you'll wake up an hour or so later, in your new form. Am I clear with you so far?"

This was _quit_e a lengthy explanation, but I somehow managed to keep up with it. "Umm, yeah. Anything else?" I asked, twiddling my thumbs nervously.

Dr. Peters nodded. "Yes, there is. I just want you to be aware that, even though Brian may have already informed you, the formula's effects will be permanent. You will have the full, DNA-exact body of a Pokémon, and will spend the rest of your life as one. We are not sure what typical Pokémon attributes, such as moves and abilities or even evolution will be like with this latest formula, but we assume them all to be present. You will be able to communicate with other Pokémon as well. Granted, you will lose the ability to speak English, although that may be obvious. You should have enough understanding of body language or writing though, so that is still a way to talk with us. Another thing to take note of, this formula is designed to keep your human mind and personality almost perfectly intact. That way, you won't lose your memories and such to the primal Pokémon nature. We learned _that_ the hard way with formula CPT-013..." The old man started to look a little upset, and Brian looked away, obviously ashamed.

I let myself gulp, and somehow summoned the nerve to ask for details. "Wh-what about that one formula? Was it...er..."

"A failure? Yes, mostly. Pokémon transformation was achieved, but the volunteer's mind was lost to the Pokémon's nature. He wouldn't respond to his name, and even behaved aggressively towards us."

I felt very disturbed at this thought. A person basically losing their minds? Yikes, I couldn't even imagine that happening to me. "What happened to the guy?" I inquired, afraid to ask but still curious.

Dr. Peters' mood brightened up a bit. "Well, after a couple of weeks we found a way to restore his memories, thank goodness, though his Pokémon-ish behavior wouldn't go away. We fixed this problem in formulas CPT-014 onwards, so don't worry about that too much. Of course, some base Pokémon behavioral habits persist, such as self-defensiveness, instinct, and...well...mating," he said, smirking a bit at that last word.

I couldn't help but chuckle a bit, but I shut myself up after seeing that Frank was giving me a serious look. "Sorry," I said hastily, but he waved it off and muttered, "Think nothing of it, I know it sounds a tad strange, but bear with me."

Dr. Peters then took a small vial out of his coat pocket, and showed it to me. Inside it was a clear liquid, almost like water. "This," he began, "is the base CPT-019 formula. It won't work on its own, which is where you come in. Take a look here..." He handed me a small folder, with the name _'DNA Samples' _printed on the front. "This is a folder with the samples of DNA we are able to use. If you look, you'll see that 'Starting Pokémon', as they're often called, are better suited for this kind of work. Of course, there are a few exceptions. Go on, you can pick one now."

I opened up the folder, and was immediately greeted with pages full of information. Tiny sample bags of some random kinds of material (hair, fur, scales, bits of claws, teeth, etc...) accompanying each Pokémon listed down. Even with only less than 40 or so Pokémon listed, much less than the total number of Pokémon species in the world, it was still a huge list.

I skimmed through all of them, trying to absorb as much information about each of them as possible, though for some reason I was drawn to one in particular. It was a water-type Pokémon that looked a lot like a sea otter. I looked up its name: _Oshawott_.

...I don't know why, but this one seemed to 'click' with me. Sure, it looked cute, and according to the information on its page it could wield the shell on its stomach like a weapon, or a tool. Rather handy, actually. And for whatever else reason...I felt as though I could relate to it somehow. I was also considering a couple others, though after roughly ten minutes of heavy contemplation, I had to go with the Oshawott. I took the DNA sample (a chip out of some kind of shell apparently) from the folder and handed it to Frank. "I'll go with this one," I said as confidently as I could manage, holding out the sample, and he took it.

"Well now... Oshawott, eh?" Frank said, eying the sample I gave him. "A fine choice indeed. It is a stronger Pokémon than it looks; it shall be a fine candidate."

I smiled a bit, happy that I made a good choice. "Thank you...sir," I said, and he smiled back at me.

"You're very welcome. I shall go and process the formula now. It will only take a moment, so if you could please be patient," Dr. Peters said, and he took the sample and formula vial and brought it out of the room. He was probably taking it to some kind of processing room or whatever.

I looked at Brian, who was nodding approvingly at me. "You seem to be going through with this easier than I thought. That's really good progress. I know that you can be withholding about your feelings—it said that in your profile too—but you really seem to seriously wanna do this. I'll ask again: are you one hundred percent sure? Be honest," he said, giving me that 'dead serious' look again.

I smirked a bit, feeling good about myself. "One hundred and ten percent, Brian. I haven't much left in my normal life anyway, but at least this should be an...interesting experience."

He laughed. "It sure as heck will! Heheh... Oh! I just remembered, when the procedure is done I'll go and introduce you to the other kids here. They've already been transformed via the CPT procedure, so it's just _you_ they're waiting on."

"Oh, umm...what kinds of Pokémon have they...become?" I asked, my curiosity still unsatisfied.

"You'll find out soon enough. If I told you, it would ruin the surprise now, would it?" Brian answered, flashing me a quick wink and snickering.

I rolled my eyes at him. Obviously this guy doesn't act like a real scientist, and he _knows_ it. But that's what I like about him; his friendliness and sense of humor, which, as I've said before, are traits that stereotypical scientists do not have. Though, there _are_ the eccentrics... But I don't think Brian is in that territory (yet).

After at least five minutes (it felt like ten), Dr. Peters finally came back into the room, holding a syringe filled with a semi-transparent blue liquid. I recoiled briefly upon sight of the thing, as needles weren't exactly my thing. "D-does it _have_ to b-be in a n-needle?" I sputtered, focused intently on the sharp point of that malicious tool. I always HATED getting my immunizations, as my fear of the needle would always tense me up. As a result, I had to dodge those shot checks on a regular basis, but sooner or later I would end up getting the injection _anyway_. Nrgh... That feeling when the needle goes in...I'd rather not relive it...

Frank sighed, but gave a dismissive shake of the head and came towards the table, a small ways from where I was sitting. "Now now, there's no reason to be afraid. And yes, it has to be through injection, otherwise if it's taken orally—that's by simply swallowing it—the formula will be destroyed in your gastric juices before it can be absorbed into the bloodstream. Just come on up here onto the table whenever you're ready. I promise it won't even be a minute."

"B-but," I protested, wanting to resist, but I couldn't. I had to endure it just this one time. Just this one time. What would be the point of me coming here otherwise? I somehow managed to force myself onto the table and lay down on it, looking up to the ceiling. If my inside consciousness had a real voice, then everyone would have to cover their ears, as it would probably be screaming.

I kept telling myself to endure it, and it will all be over soon enough. Of course, this was a losing battle against my better judgment, which was telling me to get the heck out of there. I did my best to pay no attention to anyone else. In fact, I didn't even hear Dr. Peters say, "Here we go, just relax..."

I was arguing with my mind when I suddenly felt the prick of a needle, though I hardly paid much attention to it, as I was pretty caught up in my 'self-argument'. It wasn't until a sudden tingling and warm sensation started to flow through me that I finally took note, but by then the anesthetic was doing its job, lulling me into the blackness of sleep.

* * *

...

...

"_(...Urgh... Huh? What? Where am I? A...forest? Wha...? How did I get here?)"_ I thought, gazing around at the foliage all over. Something didn't feel right about this at all. I couldn't remember what had happened, or even how I got there. Weird...

Suddenly, a group of Rattata rushed through the forest around me, passing me by. Oh, but that wasn't the crazy part. The crazy part is that they were_ TALKING _to each other. Like, I could actually understand their language! _Bang! _A flock of Pidgey fly overhead, and they're also talking!_ Wham! _A small gathering of Caterpie are huddled together, and even_ they _are speaking to one another! What the heck is going on here? Am I going _insane?_

It wasn't long until I noticed something was wrong with_ myself. _At first, I thought I had somehow gotten shorter, but that would be just messed up. People don't just randomly shrink! Starting to freak out, I looked at my hands...or rather, my paws.

_"(What the—? How did this...!)" _My hands had—for some reason—become some kind of fingerless paws (it almost seemed like I didn't have hands _period_), and my arms were _much_ shorter than I remember them being. The entire limbs were both pale white and slightly rounded as well.

By now, I was having a full-on panic attack, wondering what the heck happened to me. Last time I checked, my arms weren't quite so...not normal, to put it as gently as I can manage. In a panic, I began rushing through the forest aimlessly, though I stumbled and fell flat on my face more than a few times. To my horror, I soon saw this was due to the fact that my legs had become some kind of dark blue-colored flipper-like feet._ "(Wonderful! _How_ could this be any worse?)"_

Ugh, I just _had_ to ask. I found a pond in the middle of this forest, and I somehow summoned the courage to look into it. When I saw my reflection I almost passed out from shock then and there. Staring back at me in the pond was not my own, human face, but the face of the Sea Otter Pokemon: Oshawott!_ "(Whoaaa! Holy...!)"_

Jumping back, I completely freaked out and started running around as fast as my short limbs would carry me. But I wasn't exactly 'accustomed' to my new feet, so I kept on stumbling and tripping over myself. I hardly cared though, so I just stood back up and kept running every time I fell. _"(What happened what happened what happened!)"_ I began shouting incoherently. _"(I must be going nuts! What's wrong with me...!)"_ Hopelessly shocked and confused, I continued to run in circles around the forest, earning many strange looks from the nearby Pokemon, until I heard an oddly distant and familiar voice.

_Maxwell? Maxwell? Maxwell? Are you still with us?_

* * *

"Maxwell! Wake up!"

Regaining consciousness, I began to stir, and finally opened my eyes. _"(Phew, thank God. It was just a dream,)"_ I thought, slightly reassured. But then I suddenly remembered what had happened. The formula, the scientists, and every other detail came rushing back to me. But then, I wondered, what was that dream about...?

I sat up, feeling surprisingly sore, and I cringed in pain a little bit.

"Careful now, you've just been through a lot," I heard a voice say. I recognized it as Brian's, so I responded.

"Brian? What just went on? I'm having a hard time remembering anything..." ...That's what I _meant_ to say, but imagine my surprise when a completely different sound came out, in the form of, "Osha? Wott wott? Oshawott..." I knew—somehow, I just _knew_—what that sound meant, but Brian didn't seem to.

"Umm, yeah, sorry, I can't really make that out. I'm assuming you just had a bit of bad dream; you were thrashing around in your sleep," he replied, sounding a bit confused.

I was a tad confused myself. "Huh? Well, yeah, I did but...why can't you understand me?" I asked, giving him a questioning look. "I'm speaking English!" Again, all that came out was, "Wott? Osh...osha? Wott!"

Brian just shook his head. "Again, no, I can't really understand what you're saying Max. Such is the unfortunate side-effect of CPT...but don't worry a thing about it. Just relax for a moment. So, I'm just gonna ask you a couple of questions, okay? Nod your head for a 'yes', or shake your head side to side for a 'no', understand?"

Clueless as to what was going on, I nodded. My head was ringing a bit with pain for some reason. If only I could remember what was even...

"Good then. First question, do you feel any different?" he asked.

What a strange question to ask. _Obviously_ I felt different, pain-wise. But there was another feeling, too...it was almost like I seemed..._smaller_ somehow. I didn't quite feel myself, to say it that way, so I nodded.

Brian chuckled. "I suppose you would, after what you've been through. Now, next question: Do you remember who I am and why you are here?"

Again, another strange question. Of _course_ I knew him. He was Brian, the scientist who "adopted" me from that orphanage not long ago. Why I was here in this room kind of...escaped me a little bit. I remember that...he offered to take me here and...wait...

...I suddenly remembered why I was here. The formula...for turning me into a...wait...have I gone through that procedure? I don't remember it very well, so I tried to think as hard as I could. So much so, that I had to bring a hand up to rub my head in contemplation. That's when I noticed that it wasn't my hand. Not my human hands anyway. I stared at my now-shortened and pale white arms—almost like flippers that lacked proper digits—wondering how the heck that this came about. Looking over at Brian, whom I now realized looked huge compared to me, I nodded slowly, my mouth hanging open from shock.

Brian patted me on the head reassuringly. "There there, you're okay. The procedure was a complete success, and it appears from our observations that your body is adapting quite well to the change. You should be feeling "whole" within the day, which is quite excellent."

Change? The heck? What change does he...oh, now I remember. The change into a Pokémon. Almost in disbelief, I uttered a low cry, looking up at Brian pitifully.

"Oh, I suppose you're feeling a bit...shocked? And confused?"

I nodded, my mouth still hanging ajar.

"Heh, that'll be the formula talking. It likes to mess with your head a bit. That dream you may have had is most likely a result of its psychological effect. Don't worry if you can't really remember the details either, that's a common side effect. The point is, you are medically healthy and you have the full looks and abilities of an Oshawott." Brian pulled out a tiny 2-foot mirror from under the table, and aimed it away from me. "...Are you ready to meet your new self?"

I stared at the scientist, wide-eyed. I was going to say no, but seeing myself would be inevitable I guess, so I nodded.

"Okay," he said quietly, and held the mirror directly in front of me. Upon seeing my full reflection, I swear that I felt my heart stop. It wasn't me looking back...but an Oshawott. I was quite bewildered for a moment, so I tested this reflection by waving one of my arms. The Pokémon's arms waved too. I raised up a foot, and it did the same.

Finally I realized, almost unwillingly, that the Oshawott...was _me_.

I let out a rather high-pitched cry of disbelief and I covered my mouth with my tiny arms. I was doubtful at first, but that feeling had soon gone with the wind. That formula of theirs had worked. It really did. I'm a Pokémon. They _actually_ did it. Holy. _Crap._

I looked at my new body in the mirror, and felt my face, body, and elsewhere to make absolutely sure that this wasn't a dream. Though this couldn't possibly be one, I just had a dream already! At least here there's a reasonable explanation for what happened. But here I was, a Pokémon, and even though this truth was literally staring me in the face, I still couldn't quite bring myself to accept it fully.

Even when Brian briefly lowered the mirror I was still in shock. I actually agreed to go through with this, so it's not like I hated it, but still...I was more than very surprised at the magnitude of the transformation. After all, going from a 12-year human kid into an otter-like Pokemon that's only about a foot high...that's pretty darn extreme.

I examined myself thoroughly, actually feeling quite intrigued once the shock wore off. I had everything that an Oshawott had: The yellowed clam shell on my stomach area, the blue torso and pale white head, slightly triangular dark blue ears(?), among other things. My eyes were black and shiny, with an oval-shaped dark-orange nose between them, and I also had...are those _freckles?_ (Well, they weren't actually; apparently they were just really short whiskers.)

When I opened my mouth, I could see two tiny little fangs protruding downwards (and as far as I could tell, those were the only visible teeth). I turned my head around to see behind me, and I noticed that there was a paddle-like dark-blue tail involuntarily wagging up and down. Seeing that part alone was enough to incite a slight blush from myself. To be perfectly honest...I thought that I looked pretty cute. ...Eesh, that's not something you'd hear out of _me_ normally...

Brian silently laughed, and put away the mirror. "Quite a shock isn't it? That's pretty much how they all react when the process is over with, but you'll get used to it. Hey, maybe soon you'll be able to use Moves and stuff like that! But not now, it's still a bit early."

I nodded absentmindedly, still examining my new self with interest, but then Brian gave me a light tap on my side to get my attention.

"Now Max, I'm gonna need to have you co-operate with us a bit, okay?" he said rather seriously. "We're gonna need to run some post-procedure tests to check for any imbalances. We don't expect any however, so they should slide by nice and easily, okay buddy?"

Nodding, I took the chance to gaze curiously around the room. It was a whole lot bigger than I remembered, though I noted that as an obvious effect considering I was around a foot tall.

At that moment, the door to the room opened and Dr. Peters stepped in. "Oh? Maxwell's awake now, is he?" the good doctor said. "How's he looking, Brian?"

"Very good, Frank," Brian replied, nodding. "He was in a bit of shock over the transformation's effect, of course, but Max here seems to be adjusting already. And I ran a few easy questions by him, so his mind's in one piece."

Frank smiled. "Wonderful, as I expected. This formula has already been successful so far...although one of the other volunteers had a slight 'hiccup' in her mind, so to say. I believe the subject's name is Samantha..."

He walked over to me, and picked me up (this was an incredibly weird feeling I might note, no one has ever picked me up like this, so for a moment, I felt like a newborn baby or something), and then spoke calmly to me. "Come along now, Maxwell. We need to run a few tests, as I'm sure Brian has told you, to check for any after-effects that need attention. Do you understand?"

I nodded, wondering what kind of "after-effects" they could possibly be looking for. And what was this about one of the others—Samantha I think he said her name was—having a mental 'hiccup'? I sure hope that doesn't happen to me...but even if it doesn't, how will I fit in with the other "volunteers"? Hopefully we can be friends...but...

Dr. Peters carried me as carefully as possible out of the room (with Brian following) and into the stuffy hallway, then took me down the hall further and turned right down another hall, until at last we arrived at a room that read "Medical Center". Somehow, I figured that these tests weren't going to be pleasant, but again, my expectations were subverted when I saw that the interior of the room was much like the Testing Room, but with medical monitors and workstations and the like. The rest of the room had a rather homely feel, like the other one, as if this was intended to keep everyone at ease and relaxed. If that's true, it's working.

While the two scientists were scurrying about—me waiting on a table—they performed numerous tests, like blood tests, DNA analysis, more yes/no questions. They even brought in a special psychologist to do some rather tedious examinations. After all was said and done, they finally told me what they found out.

"So, good news!" Brian said, skimming through a stack of papers. "There are no negative health effects, as your body is adapting very well to the changes. Heart rate is good. Blood pressure and composition, ditto. And according to the psychoanalysis there are no visible signs of primal Pokémon behavior. Overall, you're just peachy! In fact, these are the best results we've had so far! I just wanna say thank you so much for being co-operative with us."

I smiled brightly at him. I guess I really can trust him after all. Dr. Peters, or should I say Frank, is a pretty nice guy as well. "You're welcome. It was nothing, really," I said as modestly as I could, forgetting that they couldn't understand me, so all that came out was, "Oshawott. Wott wott..." Brian seemed to realize my intended speech regardless, so he smiled back at me.

Both he and Frank led me out of the room (they granted me the dignity of walking, since the pain had long gone by now anyway, though this was quite an awkward process at first as I had to get used to using my new feet), and explained that they were going to take me to meet the others.

"They're a...colorful bunch, but they seemed nice enough, so establishing any friendships shouldn't be _too_ hard," Brian said reassuringly. "Just watch yourself around them, some of them might still feel a bit...antsy, so I would advise giving them a berth if they should so desire it."

I looked up at Brian and nodded understandingly, silently hoping that the others would be kind enough. This, I realized, is where my new life begins...

…I'd better enjoy it while it lasts.

* * *

**A/N: UPDATED: So yeah, I fixed up this chappie and so on, so...yeah. ANYHOW, if you haven't yet reviewed, then please do so! And don't be shy to point out any more flaws, if there would be any. I may as well try to polish this story as much as I can, right?**

**Review where it's due, osha! Until next update, fare thee well!**

**-TheAuthorGl1m0**


	3. My New Friends

**A/N: UPDATED: Blah blah blah, I fixed some spelling, grammer goof-ups, tweaked some dialogue, blah blah. Same deal here. Anyhow, to any new readers, hopefully you enjoy! And to old readers, maybe the somewhat updated chapter is a bit more...palatable.**

**Without further ado, read and review...**

* * *

_**Second Floor Halls - PokéGene Inc. Facility**_

Well, to be honest I was very nervous when both Brian and Frank brought me to meet the other five kids-turned-Pokémon. It's not that I wasn't excited to meet them, it's just that I'm pretty self-conscious about how they will think of me. Well, there's always a first time. We arrived at the door to the room after a two-minute search, but right when we did the secretary named Marilyn from before came up to us.

"Oh, Dr. Peters, Dr. Summers! Nice to run into you here!" she said. "I was just going to deliver Maxwell's bag here to..." Marilyn then noticed me at their feet, so I waved innocently. "Who's this little guy?" she asked, eying me curiously. "...Hang on, is it...Maxwell?"

Brian chuckled. "You catch on quick, Marilyn. Yes, it's him."

"It is? Oh, _wow! _Once again you two surprise me! Aw_, _he's so _cute_ now!" Marilyn said, and bent down to give me a little pinch on the cheek, which, needless to say, made me feel quite silly. "Oh, right... Here's your bag Maxwell. Sorry if it's too heavy for you..."

She carefully set down my bag (which is about the same size and shape of a purse, but it is _NOT_ a purse, I swear) in front of me, which I then grabbed by one of its straps. The bag had only a few things inside of it, so it was still light enough to carry (or at least drag around).

I thanked her as best I could, being unable to speak English, and then she left (though I could still hear her giggling about how "cute" I was as she walked off). I looked up at Brian, who was now opening up the door to the room. Surprisingly, there was no doorknob, just a flat sheet of what looked like metal that had a small window in it. As he approached it, the door simply slid open, no force necessary.

Brian noticed my confused look and explained, "It's a proximity-triggered door. When you approach it, it'll open on its own, so you don't have to worry about being stuck if we're not around."

I nodded in understanding, and followed Brian and Frank through the door into the room, dragging my bag along with me. The first thing I noticed about it was that it wasn't a single 'room'. It was more of a small apartment-like area with a living-room area, a dining area, and bedroom area. It seemed rather nice to live in a place of my own, though I will have to share it with the others regardless. Just when I was wondering where everyone else was, I saw them in the living room area.

There was five of them, as Brian had told me, and they were all Pokemon—though I knew they were kids that had been given the CPT formula, and were once human like I was. Out of all of them, I saw a Pikachu, a Piplup, a Cyndaquil, a Snivy, and a Ralts, spread all over the room somewhere, apparently still getting used to their surroundings. Brian gave me a little pat on the head and urged me on. "Go on, they won't bite...much," he said jokingly. "Heh, just kidding. I gotta go now, okay? Why don't you get acquainted with your 'brothers' and 'sisters'?"

Brothers? Sisters? Well, if Brian adopted them as well, then I suppose that would be true, in a sense. As both he and Frank left, I slowly walked into the living room, where the other five 'Pokékids' were at. Almost at once, they all turned their gazes towards me, and I froze. I managed to wave and say hello, but the response was mixed. The Piplup and Snivy seemed to both ignore me, the Ralts acted rather indifferent, but the Pikachu and Cyndaquil eagerly ran over to meet me. Obviously, these two were the more friendly ones. Right away I noticed that the two Pokemon were wearing some sort of human accessory. The Pikachu wore a pair of gray goggles over its eyes, and the Cyndaquil had a plush little pink scarf.

"Pika pi! Pikachu?" the Pikachu said, but, since I was a Pokémon myself, I understood it as, "Howdy! What's yer name, buddy?"

I looked at the Pikachu blankly for a second. Here I was, talking to a Pikachu. Or rather, a kid who was turned _into_ a Pikachu. Which was even _stranger_. "I... My name is...Maxwell," I responded shyly. "N-Nice to meet you...um?"

"Warren, that's the name," the Pikachu said. "Nice ta meetcha, Maxwell! ...Uh, can I jus' call ya Max?"

"S-Sure...everyone already does," I said, and tried to put on a smile.

Warren smiled back. "Well, I hope ya enjoy it here. I already am! I guess Brian an' Frank put ya through the 'procedure' an' stuff like that?"

I nodded.

"Ah, that would explain bein' a Pokémon an' all, eh? Hahaha..."

I couldn't help but laugh a bit at that, even though it was a bit of a dry joke. The Cyndaquil decided to speak up at this point. "Hi, my name is...um..Samantha. Nice to meet you too, Max," she said, bowing her head slightly.

"Hello, n-nice to meet you too...sis. Heh," I replied, having put in the notion of us all being 'siblings' of a sort. Hey, if we're all supposed to be living together...

"S-Sis?" Samantha said, sounding a little confused. "You mean like, we're all like brothers and sisters now?"

Warren pushed his goggles up from his eyes, so he could see better I assumed, and snickered. "I guess so... Funny how we all hafta meet like this, huh? Ah, life as a Pokemon ain't so bad. Ah'm already used ta it by now."

"A-already?" I inquired, curious as to how he could be so adaptable. "How long have you been here?"

"'Bout two days," he replied, shrugging. "Samantha showed up same day I did, then them other three came the day after. An' now, we have you!"

I nervously rubbed the side of my head. "Y-yeah...well, um... I suppose...yeah. Excuse me for a sec..."

I turned my attention to the bag I carried around with me, and I dragged it to a good position by a couch (perfectly suited for me and the others' height) then opened it up and began rifling through it. It soon became apparent that Warren and Samantha watching me, as they started asking questions.

"What'cha doing there? You packed some stuff too?" Warren asked, walking over and curiously watching me unload my things.

I paid little mind to him, as I was busy. I unloaded all the things I packed, which included the silver charm, the hat, the books, and then the busted-up PokéGear. Samantha took interest in the charm, and Warren was immediately drawn to the PokéGear.

"...You have a PokéGear?" he asked, eying the device with extreme interest.

"I do, but it's broken. Has been for a while now," I replied, not really paying any mind to his scrutiny of the device since I was busy brushing some dirt off the book covers.

Warren picked up the device, and examined it closely. "Huh. Broken you say? Lemme see what we got here," he said, then removed the frontal plate from the PokéGear and began eying the circuitry. After a moment, he seemed to have reached a consensus. "Oh! Well, _there's_ yer problem. The dang thing's CPU is shot, an' a few connections are a tad screwy. Looks like there ain't been no operation of this fer a coupla _years_ or so."

I sighed heavily, then responded, "Well, _that's_ great. All the more reason I've given up on it. It's unfixable."

The Pikachu scoffed, then put his goggles back over his eyes. "Like heck it's unfixable!" he proclaimed, starting to reach into the PokéGear's circuitry and mess around with it. "It jus' needs a little adjustment...here...an' a few bits o' metal...here...an' a little fine tunin'...here! Swell, now I jus' gotta giv'er a lil' jumper-start, an'..." Warren suddenly let out a small jolt of electricity out from his cheeks that flowed through the device. Almost immediately, the device sprang to life. "_Voila! _Done! How's that fer 'unfixable'?"

I was stunned. "How the heck did you...?" I said in disbelief, then ran over to the now-operational device. I got it back from Warren, then I started messing around with the features to make sure it was fully-functional. Shockingly (no pun intended), it was. The map, radio, phone, and everything else that Silph Co. programmed into it was intact and working. I looked at Warren, whom was acting rather proud of himself. He should be. After all, how could he repair a broken high-end device with almost no material? "Are you, like, MacGyver or something?" I asked, somewhat jokingly.

He chuckled. "I may as well be! Wasn't really that hard actually, just had ta bypass sum o' the connective wires, patch a few holes in the CPU, give it a good rechargin', and _bam!_ Fully-functionin' PokéGear."

For the second time in an hour, I was at a loss for words. I switched the device off and placed it back into the bag, safe and sound. "Thanks, I'd...been meaning to get it fixed," I said, even though I hadn't. In all honesty, I may have just as well left it there at the orphanage.

"O' course ya have," Warren said, smirking. Apparently he had seen through my false thankfulness... "It don't really matter to me, I jus' love tinkerin' with electronics. Being a Pikachu jus' makes it easier! Haha."

"I suppose it does," I said back. "For me, being an Oshawott makes it easier to..." My thoughts blanked out on this point. "...Well, I don't know what's easier this way just yet."

Warren gave me a little pat on the back. "Don't worry about it, you'll find out soon enough."

I checked through my things one more time, and came across my tiny light-blue baseball cap. The one that was the second-earliest thing I could remember owning. By many standards, it could considered common, or basic, but regardless I liked it. I held in in my paws, admiring its subtle charm.

Warren looked at me and the cap I held with an odd gaze. "What's wif the hat?" he asked.

"Oh, this old thing? It was mine when I was just a toddler. Human toddler that is, heh," I answered, examining the cap. "...Y'know, I think this thing might fit me!" Curious, I tried to fit the cap on my head, and amazingly enough it was a perfect fit. It makes sense I suppose, seeing as how I was approximately the size I was when I was three...

"Wow, that actually looks gud on ya!" Warren said, eying the baseball cap intently. "The blue really goes well wif yer body color, I reckon."

"Thanks! I guess I have a little 'human distinction' now, huh?" I said, feeling a little good about having something nice to wear at last.

It was then that I noticed Samantha (the Cyndaquil) was eying my silver amulet. I walked over to her and asked what she was so interested about.

"Well," she began, "it just looks really...pretty. It reminds me a lot about the one I have...er, the one I _had_... Um, where did you get it?"

Kind of an odd question if you ask me... Huh, you'd think girls that willingly become Pokémon wouldn't even think about jewelry. ...And yet, here she was. "It's a hand-me-down," I explained. "The House-Mother at my orphanage said that it belonged to my mother one time, and it belonged to her mother years before that. I never knew my parents, so...that amulet is really important to me personally."

Samantha nodded a bit, still looking at the precious piece of jewelry. "...It _is_ really pretty though. You...you should take good care of it..."

I picked up the amulet, and was nearly about to put it somewhere safe...but a thought suddenly crossed my mind. Samantha really seemed to like it, and she said that she _had_ one...so that's means she lost hers? How? When? From the way she was eying me, it seemed that she really missed it... That's actually...pretty sad...

I finally made up my mind, and plopped the amulet back on the ground in front of her. "Here, you can have it," I said quickly, not giving this decision much second thought.

Samantha actually looked quite shocked. "Y-You're giving it to me? I...I couldn't...not something that was your mother's..."

"Go on, I insist," I urged, practically pushing the jewelry in her face. "We're all family now, right? So it's not like it'll be gone forever or anything. Won't you please? Think of it as a replacement for your lost one."

At this Samantha quieted down. She looked away, appearing to be contemplating something, then looked back, and sighed. "...Okay, if you really want to... I...I don't feel comfortable about taking it though," she said at last.

"Trust me, my mum would've wanted me to pass it on to someone anyway. I may as well give it to you, since you lost your amulet. I'm just...trying to be friendly, is all," I said, handing her the amulet, which she hesitantly took.

"...Tha...thank you, Max... It does mean a lot to me... really, it does," Samantha said.

I really felt good about myself. Here I was, a kid who would often think of no one but himself, and yet I was giving away my precious silver amulet to my new 'sister', whom I just met. Am I hopped up on something or _what?_ ...Nevertheless, it was rather gratifying to do someone good besides myself. I turned back to face Warren, who was chuckling to himself.

"Wow, Max. Ya jus' gave Sam that thing o' yours jus' 'cause she's missin' hers? I gotta respect that, man," he said, nodding approvingly.

I looked out over the room towards the other Pokékids I saw earlier. The Ralts was still sitting alone over near the middle of the room, and the Piplup and Snivy were both wandering around, minding their own business. They had their eyes on me for a moment; perhaps they saw me give the amulet to Samantha? Or possibly not, as they continued to ignore me. Maybe they just didn't care?

"Uh, Warren?" I asked, pointing at the others. "What are _their_ names? And on top of that, what's with them? They look pretty...I dunno...distant."

Warren sighed. "Them? Oh, those guys. Haven't really gotten ta know 'em much yet. Frum whut Brian tells me, the Piplup is a girl, named Mary; the Snivy is a guy, named Matthew; and that Ralts there is also a guy, called Steve. Mary an' Matthew are pretty...standoffish, so I haven't been really able ta talk ta them. Only one they listen ta is Brian or Frank. An' that Steve...he's actually a good guy, but he's kinduva...loner, so he doesn't say much."

"You...don't say..." I honestly wasn't quite sure how to proceed from here. Part of me wanted to try and talk with them myself, and the other part wanted to listen to Brian when he said to give the others some space. But, in the end, I decided to try and talk with them.

Before I could start walking to them, I felt a paw on my shoulder hold me back. Looking behind me, I saw it was Warren that was stopping me, with a serious look on his face. "Are ya seriously gonna try talkin' ta those three? Steve probably won't give ya a lotta hassle, but them other two...don't even bother," he urged. "Brian says they're bound ta cum on by anyhoo. Let's jus' leave 'em alone..."

I sighed. Oh, how much I wanted to listen to him—and to Brian! But...I suppose with the knowledge that a few of my "siblings" are outcast, that somehow spurred me to do the opposite I was told. I never really did understand that feeling. A sense of duty, perhaps? Regardless, it was no time to be silent.

"No," I said firmly. "I don't care. I'm going to talk to them, whether Brian likes it or not."

Warren looked like he was going to protest, but he didn't. He just shook his head and finally removed his paw from my shoulder. "...Fine then," he said lowly. "If yer gonna go, then I won't stop ya frum doin' that. Jus' don't say I didn't warn ya, Max."

"I'll keep it in mind," I replied, and began walking away from him and Samantha towards the others. I decided to start with Steve, since he was apparently the 'friendlier' of the loners. I stood in front of the Ralts, who didn't even respond to my presence until I made a rather loud _"Ahem!" _noise.

Steve looked up at me, his reddish colored eyes just barely visible from underneath the pale green "helmet" (it's the only word that comes to mind for me) of his. "Yes?" he asked rather calmly, almost as if he was in a trance. But, I suppose Psychic-type Pokémon can be that way if you think about it.

I stared at him for a moment, trying to think up a proper introduction, but Steve didn't seem to mind waiting. Finally, I said something, "H-Hello. My name is—"

"Maxwell. I know that already," Steve said, giving me a coy little smile.

Taken quite aback, I asked, "How did you know that? We never even met before..."

"I read your mind," he said, almost as if he was teasing me. "You're kind of odd. You keep a lot of substance bottled up in that noggin of yours. Some stuff you'd rather anyone not know, right...?"

Yikes. Steve has really embraced the concept of "Psychic" with little difficulty. Something tells me I should be careful what I 'think' around this guy...

"You'd better. I'm always listening," Steve said, chuckling a bit. "Well, listening in a sense. Not necessarily with my ears, so to say."

"Hey!" I shouted indignantly. "You can't just...read my side-thoughts like that!"

He just shook his head. "Well, of course I can. That is, if I really wanted to."

"Then...uh...don't want to! Or...something!"

"...You really are peculiar."

"Nrgh..." I nearly had it with this guy. Reading my thoughts? And he seemed rather smart-alecky about it... I doubted I would get anywhere with him. But I didn't forget why I was here in the first place, and that was to try and get through to Steve and get him to be more open.

I decided to go with a different, more "sensitive-and-sincere" approach, so after moments of awkward silence I finally said something. "Steve...you know we've all been through the same...process, right?"

Steve shot me a confused, almost baffled look. "Umm, yes? That seems...obvious, doesn't it?" he said slowly. "Why exactly are you asking me that?"

"I just wanna tell you that we...well...let me ask something else first: You're an orphan...right?" I said, then paused to let the question sink in.

Steve said nothing in response, he just gave a light nod.

I began to feel a bit tense. "(_Should I really go this far? May as well, I'm already in too deep. There has to be some—oh crud, I forgot that he can read my mind!)" _I thought. Steve noticeably rolled his eyes, but continued to keep still and quiet. With little other option, I proceeded.

"...Well, I'm telling you right now...that you are not an orphan," I said, my voice cracking a bit from being so tense. "Not anymore."

Steve looked right up at me, and for the first time since I saw him, he looked sad. "Wh-What? What was that?" he said, barely more audible than a whisper. "What do you mean?"

At that moment, I knew I had struck a chord with him. "You're not an orphan," I repeated, then added, "because I'm your...your...your brother."

Right away, Steve's look of gloominess had turned into one of pure surprise. "Say..._what? _But...I never had any siblings that I ever knew about while I was growing up—"

"Well, I'm not your _real _brother," I clarified, sighing a bit to relax myself, then continued. "Me, along with Warren, Samantha, and those...other two...we're all your adopted siblings now, so to say."

"I...yeah...I kinda picked up on that," Steve said, regaining his matter-of-factually tone, but still seemed willing to listen to me. Finally, I think we're getting somewhere!

Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to go on. "Yeah... Um, we all became Pokemon by choice, right? So that means we're all a...group? We should at least be friendly with each other."

"But...I _am_...right? I talked with...what's his name...Warren earlier, and we're 'cool' and all. Samantha seems nice as well. Those other two won't talk at all, though. That suits me, I like being alone anyway."

"Since when has 'alone' ever meant that you're friendly?" I insisted, trying to push this further. I was really on a roll here.

"It has been since...s-since," Steve said, stammering, then fell silent, and looked away.

"I thought so. I just... Look, if you want to actually have a family..._our_ family...then you should...I dunno...come 'hang out' with us...or whatever."

Steve looked at the floor, saying nothing.

"Won't you please?" I insisted.

Again, he didn't respond at all.

"Come on Steve, can't you at least say something?" By now, I was starting to feel a little agitated.

Steve didn't budge, he just mumbled something for a bit, then trailed into silence.

"No response...how shocking. If you can't at least try to get to know me or anyone else..." I started raising my voice without knowing it, until it almost became a shout. "Then...then we have nothing to say to each other, you...you..._thing! _Go be a loner for all I care, you don't even... _Gah!" _By now, my blood was really starting to boil, which, in context, doesn't really make a lot of sense, but you get what I mean.

Once again, no response. But before I could manage to yell at Steve further, I saw the distinct sparkle of a tear fall to the floor, followed by another, and yet another. Oh good god. He was_ crying. _Right when I realized that, I immediately came to my senses. I felt horribly guilty, for very clear reasons. "Oh, oh no... I'm... Steve...I'm so sorry, I...didn't mean..."

Steve lowered his head until it was nearly perpendicular with the floor, and more tears came. I never saw his face, which was just as well, as I hate to see people (or Pokémon) cry like this. "...Just go away," he said quietly, barely moving from his sitting position. "I need to be alone..."

"I...er...wait! But I..." I started stammering nervously, and tried to console him. "C-come on...I really am sorry... I...I just lost myself a second is all... I've never really been known for being tolerant... We can work this out—"

_"I said...!" _Steve abruptly shouted, and I recoiled backwards a bit from surprise. After a sudden halt in order to compose himself, he let out a sigh. "...I said I want to be left alone... I need to think some things through..."

"_(Wonderful job Maxwell. You just made one of your adopted brothers cry, and on top of that he probably now hates you. Great. Absolutely brilliant.)" _I looked around nervously, slowly walking backwards. Every eye in the room (besides Steve's, obviously) was on me. Never before had I been this embarrassed in my life. I managed a look at Matthew and Mary, who were giving me a rather cold, disdainful stare. I also snuck a peek at Warren and Samantha, and they were giving me looks of both pity and contempt.

Partially covering my head with my short arms, I hurried back to the latter group, having now just given up on trying to talk to either Matthew or Mary also. Come on, if I couldn't even talk to Steve, supposedly a friendly guy, then what are my chances of succeeding with those other two? I'm thinking somewhere between nil and _negative forty _percent.

Warren just shook his head and covered his face with his paws as I approached. "What in the sam heck was that?" he said rather coldly. "Ah've seen negotiations go wrong... but man oh man..."

I finally returned to them and just sat on the couch, completely bypassing both Warren and Samantha and ignoring their attempts at conversation. When I did, I lay face-down right on it and said nothing for the longest while. I didn't feel like talking to anyone right now...

Dozens of thoughts scurried around my head as my brain attempted to digest what just happened. Where did I go wrong? How did things spiral out of control so fast? Why didn't I keep my cool? Perhaps I should've listened to Warren and not done anything? Maybe this _whole _thing from the start wasn't such a good idea? All these things and more ran through my mind like lightning.

At last, I felt something poke me on my back. I sat right back up, to find Warren and Samantha standing in front of the couch. "What do you guys want now? Can't you see I have enough problems?" I asked rather gratingly, hoping they would leave me alone. Somehow, I knew they wouldn't.

"Ah'm perfectly aware, buddy," said Warren, "but ya gotta tell me whut happen'd! Steve's a pretty calm guy; howdja reduce him ta tears like that? Was it somethin' ya said?"

I honestly wasn't sure how to respond, but that was just me. Like I said before, I'm not all that kind. Not very into "socializing." Don't go calling me a anti-socialist just yet, I still have family values, however dull it may seem. All my life, I've wanted a good family, but as my years in that orphanage wore on, that hope dimmed quickly. I'm still grateful that Brian paid me a visit and all, but getting that 'family' is going to be a ton trickier that I thought.

"_Hel-lo! _Earth ta Maxwell! Are ya even listenin'?" Warren almost yelled, startling me from my deep thought, making me jump into a sitting position.

"I...uh...yeah! I'm, uh...just trying to think up an explanation," I said almost on impulse, then spent a moment pooling my thoughts.

Warren stared at me blankly. "What's ta explain? I'm just asking ya whut happened! Seems like an easy question ta me."

I couldn't stall any longer—no matter how much I wanted—so I had to come clean. I told him and Samantha about the whole deal, trying to speak with Steve, the conversation details and such (though I did leave out how I lost my cool and made Steve upset, I just told them that "everything started to break down").

Warren and Samantha both listened intently to my story, or at least I think they did, as either of them would ask an occasional question. When I finished talking Warren didn't seem perfectly content with my version of what happened.

"Riddle me this, pard," he said, scratching behind his ears. "How _exactly_ did Steve get upset? You didn't elaborate on that."

I looked away, almost afraid to admit what I did, but my good conscious didn't feel right about that, so I looked back at Warren and sighed. "Okay, okay, I said...something to him, and that made him sad. It was my fault," I admitted, hoping that would be enough for Warren.

Sadly, it wasn't. "Well, whut exactly did ya say ta him?" he almost demanded, looking rather determined to keep this up.

I bit my tongue, which I regretted, as Oshawott teeth are actually real sharp. I cringed in pain, but tried to ignore it and decided to answer his question. "Er... I...tried to reason with him... Tried to, anyway. I told him to at least try and get to know us better, but he clammed up and wouldn't talk...and...I may have lost my patience and went a little too far... I accidentally said something mean. I said I was sorry though," I confessed, rather pitifully, and Warren shook his head.

"Son of a gun, you musta said something pretty darn hurtful to upset Steve like that," he said, looking down.

I looked over at Samantha, who was looking the other way. She appeared to be thinking about something, though there's no way I could've known what she was contemplating. Warren wouldn't look at me, he had his eyes on the floor, which was understandable. C'mon, the way I acted back there isn't anything to be proud of at all. Personally I blame the way those kids back in the orphanage would treat me, as being picked on regularly made me a somewhat bitter kid. Despite that, I tried to hang on to whatever goodness and purity was left in me, though I'm still not sure if that succeeded or not.

Feeling hopeless, I turned around and started to leave them both, thinking they'd be better off without me, but I was surprised to hear a voice stop me. "Wait!" it yelled, and I knew right away that it was Samantha. I looked behind me, and saw her approaching from behind whilst calling out my name.

Curious, and slightly hopeful, I turned to face her. "Ummm... Yes? Is there something that you—"

"Yes...there is," Samantha said, cutting off my sentence. "I...just want to say that... Umm... That you're...not a bad person."

I was taken slightly aback by this. Since when has anyone ever said I was a bad person? ...Besides myself? Curious, I asked, "What makes you think that?"

She spent a moment apparently thinking her explanation through, then replied, "Well... I know that you...made Steve upset and all, but...I'm sure that wasn't on purpose, right?"

"Uh, well... No, it wasn't on purpose. I would never willingly hurt someone like that...I just...lost myself for a minute there..."

"Neither would I, but...people sometimes do bad things when they get mad. It could've happened to anyone."

"I'm...grateful that you think that, but—"

"Plus, you gave me that pretty amulet of yours. I told you that I didn't want to take it since you said it was so important to you, but you insisted... No one's ever done that for me before..."

"Well...what are friends for?"

"...Yeah, so...I just wanted to say that, is all. And...won't you please stay with us? Brother?"

That last word, _"Brother", _hit me real hard in a meaningful way. I swear that I was feeling so happy about not only being forgiven, but being accepted as a true sibling. "I'd...love to," I replied, and smiled brightly, feeling _truly_ happy for the first time in a while.

Samantha smiled too. "Great!" she almost exclaimed. "I knew you were a good person... I just knew it." I noticed now that she was wearing the same silver amulet I gave her earlier around her neck. Obviously she was treasuring it. That alone made me feel better.

I followed her back to Warren, who was giving me an apologetic look. He obviously looked a bit tense, but he managed to hold himself together and forgave me as well. "Yeah, sorry 'bout making ya feel like a bag o' trash Max, I...I don't really whut else to say besides sorry, so...yeah."

"That's okay," I replied, feeling better about myself now that the whole problem had been pushed aside. "I'm sorry too, about what happened. I'll have to apologize to Steve whenever I get the chance."

"You don't have to apologize," a voice suddenly said. "I deserved it anyway."

Me, along with Warren and Samantha, all turned to the source of the voice, and collectively gasped when we saw who it was. As you might have guessed, it was Steve. The Ralts was walking towards us, looking rather despondent.

I immediately remembered the whole incident with Steve earlier, and I froze. I got that really nasty feeling in the pit of my stomach, and it refused to let up. Knowing full well this was my guilt talking, I started apologizing profusely. "Steve! I-I... I'm really sorry! I never meant to make you that upset! Please forgive me, I was just...I don't know what it was but I really am sorry for—"

"Just...enough please," Steve said lowly, waving a small white arm dismissively. "I _know_ you are, so give it a rest. I've been thinking about what you said..."

Of course, he was referring to when I confronted him about actually getting to be a part of the "family". But exactly what was he thinking about? "...And what? What about what I said?"

Steve rolled his eyes. "You should know, you're thinking it already. Or is that more of a guess? Or a hope?"

Warren and Samantha threw me a confused look, but I ignored it. I knew exactly what Steve was talking about, unfortunately. I was hoping he would accept my offer of being friends—or rather, family—but that hope was barely burning at that point. I figured I may as well come clean, seeing as how I can't get away from a mind-reader.

"Okay, I was wondering if you'd...accept my offer of...being friends?" I admitted.

Steve managed to smile weakly. "That's the one. I _have_ been thinking about it, and..."

"And...?"

"And..."

"And...what?"

"And..."

"What, what, _what?"_

"And..."

It became clear that Steve was messing around with me, so I started to fume again. "And_ what? _Out with it already!"

"And..." There was another silence, but right before I could start yelling Steve quickly finished. "...I think I will go along with it," he said finally. And after saying that...he smiled. _Actually_ smiled, not just a cheap or coy smile, but a meaningful smile.

My anger quickly fizzled out, and I couldn't help but smile back. When the realization finally hit me, my mouth dropped open and I stared at him in surprise. "Wait... You'll...?"

"Do I need to say it twice? I'll be part of your "family", if that will suit you," Steve said matter-of-factually.

Remember that feeling of happiness earlier? It just tripled. I couldn't believe it, I actually _did_ succeed in convincing him! I was at a loss for words, so I just sputtered some random gibberish in shock, and he laughed. I could hear Warren and Samantha laugh too, and they spoke up as well.

"Well well, Steve! Ah'm glad ya turn'd 'round so quick! Welcome ta the 'family' buddy, heh," Warren said, grinning widely.

Samantha was smiling gently, and giggled a bit. "Hello Steve! N-Nice to meet you, I'm Samantha. So, I guess that...you're my 'brother' now?"

Steve tilted his head down a bit, looking somewhat embarrassed. "I...yeah...I suppose I am. Nice to be able to know you all," he said, and chuckled a bit.

At last, our happy little family was four-strong, though it was beyond me how those other two loners—Mary and Matthew—would finally come forward to be part of it as well. I could probably see to that later on...but I've caused enough damage today.

* * *

_**Staff Room - PokéGene Inc. Facility**_

"So, you really think they six of 'em will all get along?" asked Frank, sipping some coffee. "I mean, those two...uh, Matthew and Mary I believe, seemed rather... Hmm... How should I say it?"

Brian chuckled. "Loners? Maybe," he replied, flipping through a magazine. "But I'm sure they'll all warm up to each other at some point."

"Eh, I suppose you're right," Frank said, and took another sip.

"Besides," Brian continued, "I have a good feeling about those kids, especially Maxwell. We were lucky to find them all."

Frank set down his coffee mug and laughed. "Yeah, yeah... I guess I'm just being a tad paranoid again. There really shouldn't be anything to worry about after all."

"Mm," Brian quietly hummed, quite fixated on the magazine he was reading. Right then, another scientist entered the room, concentrating on some documents he was reading while walking. Before Brian could say anything, the scientist took a rather bad step and hence took a tumble to the floor, spreading the papers all across it.

The scientist, clad in a white lab coat like all the others, picked himself off the floor and rubbed whatever part of him hurt. "Oww... That was real embarrassing," he said in a pitiful tone, then feverishly began to recollect and organize the papers.

Brian and Frank collectively sighed. "Honest to goodness," Brian said, his hands covering his face. "Learn to not trip next time Danny..."

The scientist, Danny, finished gathering up the papers and rearranged them into a folder, his face beet red with embarrassment. He was a rather young man, no more than 18 years of age, with messy blackish-brown hair and light blue eyes, and wearing the same color lab coat and pants as the other two scientists were.

"C'mon dad," Danny said, sighing. "Cut me a break, I've only been here for a week..."

Brian breathed deeply. His son Danny is always so clumsy, though he means well... But even if he didn't mean well the outcome would be no less different (or destructive). "Son...you know that you must learn to shape up, we are working on a great undertaking here," Brian said, rubbing his temples in slight annoyance.

"Sigh... I know dad, I know... But I can't really help myself sometimes," said Danny, lowering his head in shame.

"Nrgh, it's okay... It's just fine," Brian said, adjusting his glasses. "You wanted to show me those documents I'm assuming?"

Danny nodded glumly, and handed the paper-stuffed folder to his dad. "Umm...yeah. These are the...urr...DNA results from the testing thing."

"Good, good," Brian said quietly, and he lay the folder open on the coffee table in front of him, reading the contents along with Frank.

As the two older scientists scanned the data, Danny stood idly by, whistling a bit. "Uh, dad?" he said. "Just so you know, some of that stuff has to be still...um, analyzed and stuff. Yeah. But I really don't know what it all means myself, to me it's just a bunch of numbers and junk..."

Neither of them answered Danny. They both seemed to be zeroed in on one of the documents. "...My word," Frank said, "_that_ looks very interesting..." He pointed at one spot on the document, which Danny could hardly make out from his angle, but Brian and Frank seemed very intrigued by it.

"Wow, that _is_ quite neat," said Brian, nodding approvingly. "We should have this thoroughly analyzed."

Brian suddenly extended the document towards Danny, giving him a rather serious look. "Danny, can I trust you to deliver this to Carter down in the Analysis department? It's urgent."

Danny was surprised by this. All of a sudden, he was being given an urgent assignment? "Uh...sure! Right away dad!" he said, feeling a bit excited. He hastily accepted the papers, held them like it was the holy grail, and then hurried out of the room.

Cracking a small smile, Brian turned to Frank. "You know, he's a good kid. A bit odd or clumsy sometimes, but still good."

"You're right about that. After all..." Frank placed a hand on Brian's shoulder. "...He takes after his father."

Brian laughed. "Sure he does, Frank. _Sure_ he does..."

At that moment, Danny came and poked his head into the staff room again, looking a bit lost. "Umm... Where IS the Analysis...place? I'm kinda...lost. Eheheh..."

Brian facepalmed. "Ugh. It's down on the first floor, two doors past the Testing Room. The door's marked with a big yellow _"DANGER: RADIATION" _sign, so you can't miss it," he said slowly, but snickered at that last description.

"Uhhh, thanks?" Danny said, a bit put-off. He knew his dad had to be joking...or _was_ he? Needless to say, he _did_ feel pretty silly about having to ask where the place was. "I'd better go slip on the HazMat suit then, eh? Eheh... Don't go canceling my life insurance on me now." He chuckled weakly and quickly left, saying nothing more.

Frank shook his head and laughed. "That clinches it; he really DOES take after you. Or is it the other way around? How can I tell..."

"Neither can I, Frank," Brian replied. "It's just one of life's little mysteries."

The two scientists sat down, and each went back to whatever they were doing before, be it reading a good magazine or having a sip of hot coffee, hoping that their small discovery in that document would yield promising results.

* * *

**A/N: UPDATED: Phew, that's another revision done. Well, to those that haven't reviewed, please do so if the story takes your fancy!**

**Review where it's due, osha! Until next update, fare thee well!**

**-TheAuthorGl1m0**


	4. My New Purpose

**A/N: UPDATED: Like the previous three chaps, this one is getting a slight update as well. You know the drill, spell checks, grammar fixes, and some re-wording, blah blah. Enjoy, and please review!**

* * *

_**Analysis Department – PokéGene Inc.**_

Danny hurriedly made his way to the end of the building, yet maintained a careful grip on the "ever-so-important" documents his father Brian and Dr. Peters gave him. He had no idea what the big deal was, as he himself couldn't make heads or tails of what all those overly complex words, numbers and equations meant. Maybe he should've stayed in college a bit longer…

After rushing past the Testing Room, Danny passed a few more random doorways until he came to a door made of metal with a plate that read _'Analysis Room_' on the wall beside it. Attached to the door itself was a cheap novelty sticker that read "DANGER: RADIATION!" with a small diagram of a stick-figure with an extra arm and head. Danny couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he opened the door, since he _knew_ it was false. And besides, people who get exposed to radiation in real life don't just sprout extra limbs! They either: A) End up in a casket; or (according to TV and comics), B) Get super-powers and save the world and stuff.

Stepping inside, he noticed that the room was very dark. The only sources of illumination came from a series of red-tinted lamps that gave the whole room a rather outlandish feel. He opened the door wider to let some of the hallway light in, and it revealed a bit more of the inside in detail. It was a very science-y and technological-esque room with several setups of complex-looking equipment and tools; not quite as 'homey' as the Testing Room and Medical Center, since few people were ever in here.

Danny looked around the room curiously, wondering where Carter was, until a voice came blazing out of the dark. "The light! Shut the door, boy! It's too bright! Shut it right now!" it shouted, startling Danny and prompting him to slam the door behind him, and the room became darkly-lit with redness as before. "T-That's better," the voice said, sounding relieved, and the person which the voice belonged to came within Danny's view.

Though it was hard to make out his features due to the poor lighting, he was a middle-aged man with black hair (it looked black in the dim red light anyway), wearing a lab coat that looked red, but Danny knew it had to be white. He realized that the man was in fact Carter, the guy who always works down here.

"Well, what do you need Danny? Does Frank or Brian have anything for me?" Carter asked.

"Uh, yes... You see, they wanted you to have a look at this here," Danny said, handing the papers to Carter. "I have no clue what it means, but...maybe you would know?"

Carter scoffed. "Of course I would know!" he snapped, snatching the documents. "If there were anything I couldn't understand, then they ought to throw me into a nuthouse!"

Danny smirked, remembering a question that dad would always tell him. "Okay then, if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" he said, smirking.

The scientist was silent as he contemplated, then groaned with distaste. "Okay, maybe there are a few things," he admitted irritably, then walked over to a desk with a lamp focusing red light directly onto the surface and sat down at it.

Danny watched Carter begin to look through the documents on the desk's surface, and a thought struck him: Why does he always spend so much time in here? He looked around the room, his eyes now adjusting to the dim lighting, and noticed several vials, containers, samples, and loads more scattered around the room. Danny's eyes caught a glimpse of a bottle with the label _'Formula SPCH'_ on it, and immediately wondered what it was. Before he could get a better look at it, Carter called him over. "Danny? Have a look at this."

His curiosity of the bottle had to wait, so Danny quickly walked to Carter at the desk, who pointed at a spot on the document. Danny squinted to make out what it said: _"Presence of DNA anomaly before CPT introduction = Positive; Presence of DNA anomaly after CPT introduction = Negative." _He was unsure what this meant, so he asked Carter about it.

"It's simple really," he explained. "The DNA test is performed both before and after the CPT procedure. Before the CPT is given we extract a sample of DNA through hair or skin cells, and then take another sample post-procedure. Usually in this kind of test we look for any problems after the transformation, but as you can see in this test result, there were problems _before_ the change that were actually _fixed_ by the CPT formula. They had to be, as we've no other explanation."

Danny rubbed his forehead in contemplation. "Hm, I _guess_ that makes sense... What kind of problem was it?" he asked.

"That...I'm not sure. I'll have to examine the 'pre-CPT' DNA of the subject more closely... Now, whose result was this again?" Carter said, and looked up the name that the DNA test belonged to: _'Subject CPT-19/6 - Maxwell.'_ "…So that's who it is. Maxwell."

"...Maxwell, eh?" Danny said, looking at the ceiling in thought. "That's the new one right?"

Carter nodded. "Yep, it is. I'm not sure what this 'anomaly' could be, but I'll have it figured out in no time flat," he assured, then sat up from the desk and walked over to a wall-hung cabinet. Opening it, Carter pulled out a small vial with a few bits of hair in it, and brought it to a weird-looking machine called a centrifuge. Before he did, Danny could just make out from his angle that the vial was labeled "Subject 6: Maxwell DNA Pre-CPT."

"Funny story about this sample," Carter said as he readied the machine. "From what Brian tells me, he actually _forgot_ to get a sample of Maxwell's DNA before the CPT procedure! Guy panicked for a bit, but luckily for him he realized that Max had left behind some hair and skin samples on the chair the kid sat on earlier. He made me swear not to tell Frank…but I told him anyway. He got a kick out of it actually. It's all good though, no one's in trouble or anything, but just think..." He laughed, causing Danny to laugh too, albeit with a little hesitation.

The machine was finally loaded with the sample and turned on, and the drum began rotating. The centrifuge revolved quicker and quicker with each passing second, producing an ever-increasing whirring noise that droned throughout the otherwise quiet room. As the machine did its job separating the cells and DNA, neither man said anything for at least two minutes, until Danny asked, "How long is this gonna take?"

"Eh, it'll be a while," Carter said, shrugging. "DNA separation and analysis doesn't happen overnight, so to say. The centrifuge'll be done in about a half-hour, but analyzing the genetic structure will take a little longer."

"...How much longer?"

"Hm, I'd say about two or three days, depends on how easy it is to find that anomaly, or how complex the structure is. Bottom line, you may as well get to bed, it's late now."

"Huh? Is it? It's only like—" He looked at his watch. "…10 o'clock at night... Oookay, I guess it _is_ time to turn in."

"Well then, go on, git! I have research to do, things to discover, and I don't need help, so bye!"

The young man's expression flattened. "...You're a really nice guy, you know that?"

"Heheh, of course I am. Now get going."

Danny didn't need to be told twice, so he turned and found the door, before being stopped by Carter. "Hey boy, do me a favor and don't open that door too much, will ya?"

Danny sighed. "What's with you and the dark? Why does it have to be so dim and…reddish in here?"

"I like the dark better, it helps me think," Carter explained. "Plus, the absence of bright light keeps it from interfering with any test results. The red lights are there to help me see a bit better than complete darkness, in any case."

"Well, okay then…if you say so," Danny said, and opened the door and quickly stepped outside before shutting the door behind him. He immediately realized he'd been in there too long, as the bright hall lights suddenly and briefly blinded him. He covered his eyes as they struggled to adjust to the dramatically brighter surroundings, and after a minute he finally managed to regain his composure.

Danny started down the hallway, still rubbing his slightly sore eyes, both from the glare of the fluorescent lights above and of sheer fatigue. Only now was his work day beginning to wear on him. He had never would've guessed that it was so late, since he'd been so busy, what with handling papers and doing loose chores and occasionally meeting some of those 'subjects'. He never met the newest one—Maxwell—yet, but he heard his father Brian and Frank talking about him, and how he was supposedly a good kid. Perhaps later he could meet him as well? That'd have to wait until tomorrow.

He finally made his way to his room (but not before letting his dad know he was going to bed for the night), and entered it. Danny lazily unbuttoned his lab coat and tossed it aside, then got onto his bed still wearing his pants and undershirt. He did that mostly because it would save him having to get dressed every morning, though his dad did make him change his clothing when the smell got a bit too unsavory.

As he gradually began to fall asleep, Danny's thoughts drifted on numerous topics: the strange discovery in the DNA results, all the work he did today, and that one kid Maxwell... He even wondered what the analysis of his human DNA would find. At last, Danny pushed aside these thoughts and drifted into sleep, still wondering about that 'funny story' about how dad almost lost that sample...

* * *

_**Living Quarter SUB - PokéGene Inc.**_

Well, all was fine and dandy about the settling-in thing, but I still feel a bit jittery from all that nonsense earlier. Still, I'm happy that Steve decided to come around at last and be friends with us.

To be honest, I had doubts about that guy and his demeanor, but so far he's shaping up to be something of a buddy. Granted, we just met and all, but I suppose we could already feel that 'connection'... Or maybe that's just because he could read our thoughts so he could know all of my locked up feelings and interests. That way, he could be friends with me and the others easier. If this is true, then I wonder why he never did that earlier...

I wanted to ask him, "Why be a loner?" But eh, I shouldn't really be asking him that without asking _myself_ it (otherwise, it'd be pretty hypocritical). Before coming here, as you may remember, I was a bit of a recluse; never venturing far and always keeping to myself. That meant I never really became a socialite in that place, but then again, who _was_ a socialite at the orphanage? Not the best trait in the world, but it was me. Of course, now that I'm here, with my new 'family', I'll have to change that.

I had lost track of time, as I was absentmindedly checking out my surroundings for anything of interest. Needless to say, there wasn't a whole lot. There were the Pokémon-sized sofas that I mentioned earlier (one of which had my bag still resting on it), a nearby television set that was turned off, a human-sized couch (I'm assuming this is for Brian, Frank, or whoever else when they visit), a mini-bar (basically a tiny little fridge for drinks or food or whatever), a fireplace with some wood being stowed next to it, and some kind of dining table set-up that was perfect for our size. It's as if the whole room had been readied just for us. And this was just the living room area. The kitchen and sleeping areas simply begged my interest, but I held off on that and decided to stick around this area.

After my curiosity died down a bit, I decided to return to the rest of the group near the pint-sized sofas. Steve and Samantha were talking, so I spent a little bit of time talking with Warren about some things.

"So, uh, what's_ your_ story, if you don't mind me asking?" I said, rather interested to hear about his past.

Warren shrugged. "Eh, it weren't nothin' real glamorous or anythin'. I was on mah own since, what? Like 6 years old?"

"Really?" I asked, quite surprised. "All on your own since then? What happened to your parents?"

He looked away, and sighed. "Well...it ain't a nice story, but it happens lots. Mah parents divorced ya see, so I was forced ta choose b'tween 'em. But...I didn't make a choice. I…_couldn't_ make a choice..."

"...What'd you do?"

"One day, I just…left. Left without any word…"

"But...why?"

"...It's…complicated ya see... I didn't really like my parents. They always fought an' yelled, either at each other or at me. My life sucked more than a vacuum cleaner, so I had ta finda way outta it."

"Oooh... That's…pretty bad... Sorry about that..."

"Ah, ya don't hafta be. It was bound to happen anyway..."

"What'd you do after that? It's been years, according to you, so how did you survive?"

Warren sighed, and got up and lay down on the sofa. "I managed ta get a job at some local mechanic store, so I could live on my own fer a while. I was okay, 'till the shop had ta close 'cause of money troubles. I was there about...5 years. I then got taken to an orphanage—jus' as well, I had no money left—and I stayed there fer another year 'till that Brian feller came and found me. He offer'd me the chance, I took it, an' so...here I am."

"Wow, that's some life... All _I_ ever did was spend 12 boring, wasted years at some orphanage and never got to do anything interesting..."

"At least ya didn't have ta put up with parents like mine. I sumtimes wunder whut 'came o' them... Or iffin' they're even still 'round…"

After that conversation with Warren, I became a bit bored and started to wander around the room a bit, which helped me get used to moving about with my new feet. After a minute, I became curious, so I decided to try and see if I could do any moves that a normal Oshawott could do.

First off: the shell thing. It was just there, somehow firmly attached to my stomach area. I curiously poked at it, though nothing really happened, as it was stuck surprisingly well. Since I lacked thumbs (or real fingers in general (a human feature that will be one of the _few_ things I miss)), it was hard to get a good grip on the thing. Feeling around it, I noticed that the narrow end of the shell seemed to be like some kind of crude handle. I grabbed a hold of it, and in one swift move, effortlessly pulled it off. Wow. It was that easy?

I held the shell with one paw, examining it closely and silently debating how I should use it. According to the information I'd read, it could be used as a tool and a weapon...so I decided to try it out for the heck of it. Gripping it as tightly as I could, I swung it through the air as if it were a bladed weapon, and it made a light whooshing sound as I brought it down. Having tasted success, I tried it again a couple more times. Now feeling a bit bolder, I decided to try it out on an old, dried-up piece of wood near the fireplace, and to my mild surprise it was split cleanly in half with a sharp CRACK!

Feeling ecstatic at having mastered this trick already, I felt like doing a little celebratory dance, though I thankfully held off on that urge when I realized the others were watching me. Since I had just perfected a rather cool technique, I wanted to show off to them a bit. Eh-heh, yeah, that's just me again. I walked back to Warren, Samantha and Steve, still holding the shell in my paw.

"Hey guys!" I said excitedly. "Check out what I can do! I can use this shell thing now!" I led them closer to the fireplace area (but not _too_ close, mind), and demonstrated my new move on another chunk of firewood. Like before, the chunk of timber was cut neatly in half.

The three of them seemed fairly impressed. "Neato, Max," Warren said, smiling. "Nice trick, Ah'm sure no one would wanna mess with ya now, eh? Heheheh..."

"That's pretty…impressive," Samantha said. "You haven't even been here more than a few hours and... Well, you're already learning!"

Steve looked both amazed and a bit afraid at the same time. "Wow. That's great and all Max, but…" He started cautiously rubbing his neck for some reason. "…Promise you won't try that on me, okay?"

It took me a moment to catch on to what he was implying with the whole 'rubbing-the-neck' deal, and when I did I chuckled. "Don't worry, don't worry... I hopefully won't need to," I said half-reassuringly and half-jokingly, and Steve just grimaced in response.

I spent a bit more time messing around with the shell, discovering all kinds of practical uses for it (I found that it made a nice tray), until I wore myself down. Now I was at a loss on how to reattach the shell to me. Hoping for some kind of beginner's luck, I simply returned the shell to its original position and pushed it onto my stomach a bit, then let go. It didn't fall off, the shell somehow just stayed there. To make sure it was on for good, I gave it another prod like before, and like the last time, it was well and truly attached. I silently praised my success, and I began to wonder what else Oshawott could do.

A thought struck me immediately. Oshawott is a Water-type, so it should know some water moves, like Water Gun or whatever. Now, how I was supposed to do THIS was beyond me. It was easier for me to figure out the shell thing, since it was already just…there, but trying to produce water from nowhere is kinda...unrealistic. What was I supposed to do? _Barf?_ Ugh… I had no idea how to proceed, so I didn't even bother. A shell that slice n' dices is good enough, right?

Well, after all that "training" I must've worked up an appetite, since I could hear my stomach grumbling and complaining quite loudly. I suppose that's one thing Pokémon and humans have in common; a rumbling tummy means it's dinner time. I once again went back to the group, and asked if anyone else was hungry as well.

"Yeah, I could go fer sum chow myself," Warren said, rubbing his stomach.

"Food...that sounds like a good idea, yeah," Samantha concurred.

Steve looked from side to side, at me and the others, appearing to be thinking of something. "...Sure. It's been nearly a day since I've had something, so now might be a good time," he said rather nonchalantly.

Okay, let me tell you right now that fate has a weird system of deciding outcomes based on necessity. Wanna know why? …I don't know why _exactly_, but there are things that happen that suggests that idea.

For example, right as I was wondering where we were going to find us some good food (without preparing it ourselves of course, I'm lazy that way), who should come into the room but Brian. I heard the door open with a slight mechanical whir and spun around, to see the scientist walk in. When he caught of me and the others he smiled. "Well now, Max!" Brian said, beaming. "Look at you! It's only been a couple of hours and you've _already_ made some friends!"

I smiled back at him, and replied with a happy-sounding "Osha!" to which he laughed.

"See? They weren't so scary now, were they?" he said, and laughed again. "Anyway, how's everyone else doing? Warren? Sam? Steve? Mary? Matt?"

Warren, Samantha, and Steve all answered in a positive tone, and I even heard those two loners (I almost forgot they were still there actually) answer as well, though they still refused to make eye contact with us. I looked at them rather hopelessly, sighed, and then turned back to Brian.

Brian must've noticed my looks at the two loners, so he started to make a point about it. "What's the matter? Is there some kind of problem?"

The Piplup and Snivy said nothing; they merely turned their heads away.

"Now guys, why can't you two just get along with these four here? Don't make me beg!" he said rather seriously.

Apparently this struck a chord with Mary and Matthew, as they came a bit closer, until they were almost right up to Brian (they were still a fair distance from me and the others though). Brian did make them move a bit closer to us though, which they did with a lot of hesitation. I took the opportunity to wave and say hi to Matthew, but the snooty Snivy simply scoffed (and try saying _that_ twenty times fast).

"Don't hold your breath," he said rather harshly, glaring at me. "I'm not gonna be a "buddy", if that's what you're thinking. So _forget_ about it!"

I stepped back a bit out of apprehension. It was a good idea I chose not negotiate with him earlier, since his cold shoulder would've froze me solid...for lack of a better expression.

Mary's response to my attempted greetings weren't a whole lot better; she kept silent and gave me a rather mean look. …Oddly enough though, she couldn't sustain this expression and started to look more and more upset. I couldn't really say anything about it though, since she turned away from me and refused to listen to any pleads, though she still looked rather disturbed. It's as if she was afraid of something...

I looked up at Brian and shook my head, and he sighed. "Hrmm. Still a bit "iffy" I see... No matter. We'll deal with this later." Brian then turned full attention to me. "Max... I need to talk with you in the hall for a sec. It's very important."

Nodding, I began to wonder why Brian wanted to talk to me. Hopefully I wasn't in trouble... Or...perhaps there was a problem with the test results? B-but…they said everything was fine...

Brian led me out into the (stuffy) hall, and made sure the door was closed and no one was around when he spoke. "You see, Maxwell... Hmm... I'm sure you're wondering why I'm speaking to you now."

Something about Brian seemed 'off', since he was acting pretty serious. And from what I know of Brian, he's rarely this serious. I nodded after a moment's thought.

"Well, we got your DNA test results back...and..." Here Brian seemed to be containing some kind of excitement mixed with ambiguity. "...We may have found something quite incredible."

"What? What is it?" I asked, and even though that only came out as, "Osh? Oshawott?" Brian seemed to understand regardless.

"Earlier, I had noticed an anomaly in your Pre-CPT—that's your human DNA—sample... And me and Frank discovered that this anomaly was absent Post-CPT—that's the way you are now. We think we have found a potential medical discovery involving the CPT formula."

I stared at him in bewilderment. A _what?_ An "anomaly"? What's all about that? I had it when I was human? And now…it's gone...?

"We're not sure if that anomaly was anything serious, so that's why I had my son Danny bring the findings it to Carter at the Analysis Department to check it out. I'd let you meet Danny, but he's asleep right now, so that'd have to wait until tomorrow. The point is that the CPT formula somehow corrected that issue, leaving no trace of it whatsoever. Isn't that amazing?"

I made no noise; I simply looked up at Brian in surprise. I had a genetic problem—that may have or would have caused something bad—that I wasn't even aware of my whole life? And now he's saying my turning into a Pokémon fixed it? _And_ he has a _son?_

Brian's atypical seriousness was giving in to typical excitement, so that made me feel a little less tense. "We've never had a result like that before, since the formulas of the past didn't have the complete genetic 'reset' that CPT-019 has as a feature... At least, that's what I'm _guessing_ is the reason anyway. Though we have yet to confirm it, it seems we're finally on the right track to bring about some kind of medical miracle! And it's all thanks to you, Max! And to the others of course for being a part of this project!"

…Whoa, now I was starting to feel a bit…overwhelmed. What had _I_ done? So far, all I've done is agree to be a part of their program and become a Pokémon (specifically an Oshawott) and make friends with some of the others who got involved as well. Just because I had some genetic anomaly thing meant I had helped the field of medicine?

"Granted... even if the in-depth analysis—which should reveal exactly what DNA problem you had—turns out to be as we hoped...it would only be a _single_ step forward. From there we would have to figure out exactly what components of CPT brought this about, and then get our heads around to producing a workable cure or tonic of some kind...as turning people into Pokémon all the time doesn't quite sound like the ideal solution to have to solve disease problems, right? …Understand so far?"

I looked down at my body, then back at Brian and nodded.

"Well, I have little more to say except…hope you enjoy life! Heh." He coughed, and gave his glasses a little clean with his coat fabric. "Well...are you hungry? You do look like it, and I'm sure the others must be hungry by now as well. I'm a fairly decent cook, so..."

Did I need another excuse to agree? I had nearly forgotten about my hunger, but when Brian brought it up I felt my stomach making those noises again. He must've heard them, since he laughed.

"Okay, serious topics aside, I think I'll make you all a good meal after all! I know this great recipe for flavored Pokéfood and poffins for dessert..."

Let me tell you something, Brian understates his own cooking skill. This may be because I've been eating the same things for the last 12 years, but man oh man...this guy _knows_ something about the culinary arts!

Though I wasn't very pleased initially with the fact that I was eating Pokéfood, I actually got around to trying some, and it was almost shockingly good! It kinda tasted like...seafood or tender fish bits or something, with a lot of good seasoning that gave it a little 'zip'. This wasn't the only flavor this food came in, but it is so far my favorite. When I talked to Warren, he said that his food was flavored a bit like meat and chicken. He offered me a piece, but I turned it down, mainly because the idea of eating food of that kind unsettled me. Though I can't even remember liking seafood, and I'm sure I liked meat products before... Eh, it's probably just the Oshawott side of me having that effect. Sue me.

The dessert was also excellent. Brian made these pastries for Pokémon called 'poffins', which are supposedly very easy to make, though Pokémon can't seem to get enough of them. I'll say right here and now that is 100% true, as the one he made for me was chocolate-flavored, my all-time favorite when I was human (thankfully, this is still true even after becoming a Pokémon). I would be lucky to get a small chocolate dessert once a _month_ back at the orphanage…

As I enjoyed the rather lovely dinner, I glanced over around the little table we were sitting at. Warren, Samantha, and Steve were sitting with me, eating their respective meals as well. As could be expected, Mary and Matthew both were eating away from us (and each other). That didn't really surprise me at all, considering how they've been acting. Matthew would occasionally flash a rather cold stare in our direction every once in a while (God knows those eyes of his gave me chills every time), but Mary never even seemed to want to look at us at all.

The only occasion I saw her look at us happened to be the same instant I decided to glance in her direction, and I noticed that she didn't seem as disdainful or off-putting like before. She actually seemed to be eyeing our group with a distinct feeling of…longing? Though, judging from her earlier behavior and current expression...she seems afraid of talking to us. I began to wonder why, but then I remembered the little "issue" with Steve earlier. Even though it wasn't very pretty, he still got over it and decided to hang with us...so why isn't Mary acting any friendlier if she wants to be a part of our group too? She noticed me watching her, so she quickly turned around and tended to her food without saying anything.

Though something inside me wanted to try and reason with her, I decided to wait for her to come around on her own. After all, if she really wanted to join our 'family', then it would only be a matter of time 'til she came to us. Matthew, on the other hand, is gonna be a different situation...

All good things must come to an end, so they say, and that was true in this case since the entire dinner was soon devoured. Believe me when I say that I had a heck of a food coma after that, since I may have eaten a _little_ bit too much... I'll have to watch that from now on. No sense in overindulging myself, since I'll be having many more regular meals like this anyway.

Brian came by our table as we finished, smiling. "So, how was the meal guys?" he asked, and we all gave a collective cry of agreement. "Haha, thanks! I'm not _that_ great a cook you know, but at least it beats that bunk they serve in school cafeterias, eh?"

I couldn't help but laugh at that. Of course, I know that's true by experience. My old school's food was the worst...and the fare served at the orphanage wasn't all that much better, but at least it was edible.

Looking at a wall-mounted clock, I noticed that it was surprisingly late, at least 11 o'clock at night or somewhere around that time. Brian must've taken note of it too, as he suggested that we go get some sleep. He showed us all the way to the bedroom, where there were six Pokémon-sized beds of equivalent sizes, each colored slightly different. Three beds were on each side of the room, in a line facing the center of said room, and a fairly large window let in some light from outside. The star-filled sky looked rather pretty, and it stole my gaze for a moment, until I regained my senses and went to claim a bed as my own.

I settled for one on the left side of the room, right in between the two other beds (which were taken by both Warren and Samantha). Steve chose a bed on the right side of the room, and Mary took the middle of those beds (pushing it slightly away from us). Matthew claimed the last bed, and pushed it to the furthest edge of the room into a dark corner, apparently so he could be as far away as possible from us.

Brian sighed at Matthew's position of bed, but shook his head dismissively and bid us all goodnight before leaving out of the room.

I lay down on the bed, trying to get comfortable, though I could not for some reason. Funnily enough, I realized that my new tail was hindering my goal in finding a proper sleeping position, as whenever I tried to lie on my side that darn tail would make it less comfortable. The shell on my belly wasn't helping either, as this made sleeping on my stomach _very_ uncomfortable. The only position that was tolerable enough for rest was directly on my back, and I'm one of those kids who think sleeping like that isn't all that comfy. It's just how I prefer it really, since I keep hearing that it's much more likely that you'll end up snoring through the night if you lie on your back.

So, to compensate, I simply removed the shell from my stomach and carefully slipped it under the pillow. With this impediment gone, I lay down on my stomach, and turned my head to the side, feeling loads better. Still, it'll take me a while to get used to this way of sleeping, since I would always normally sleep on my side. Life as a Pokémon really does have its quirks, eh?

I called out a goodnight to everyone, including Mary and Matthew, and everyone _except_ them responded with a goodnight of their own. Seriously, I have no idea _how_ I'll get through to those two, but I suppose there will be a time. Getting a bit drowsy, I began thinking about all that went on today... Just think, this morning I woke up, human, at that orphanage, and now I'm going to sleep as a Pokémon in some research facility miles away. What a life!

What Brian told me earlier about a "DNA anomaly" while I was human disturbed me a little bit, since I was clueless to anything of the sort! I'm actually very nervous about what kind of results that 'analysis' will bring... But at least now I'm fine and healthy. …Even though I'm no longer human.

But...if what Brian said is true, then…I would have contributed to making some kind of medical miracle? That would mean...that my life has _purpose_ now... I lived my life never thinking that I could do anything so good or useful, and yet, here I am! It _would_ be a good life after all…

Finally, my drowsiness soon overcame me, and I slipped into the welcoming blackness of sleep. The day was finally over, and another will arrive at my life's door tomorrow. It would just be another, new, fresh, and yet normal day.

But it was then that everything took a turn for the bizarre.

* * *

**A/N: UPDATED! There we go, it's (mostly) fixed…I think. :P Anyway, for all new readers, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! For all _old_ readers, then I hope it's…well, the same thing really, only with edits. But don't be shy to point any mistakes or whatnot via review or PM! I'm always available. :D**

**Review where it's due, osha! Until next update, fare thee well!**

**-TheAuthorGl1m0**


	5. My New Dream

**A/N: UPDATED: I needn't explain the whole 'Updated!' concept for the fifth time in a row. It'd be redundant. :P So here's Chapter 5, readers new and old!**

**Without further ado, read and review…**

* * *

_**Thursday, June 10 - Living Quarters SUB – PokéGene Inc.**_

Okay, let me tell you something. If you ever had any weird dreams, then it most likely has _nothing_ on the one I had last night. Believe me when I say that it was, though rather foreboding, _extremely_ odd. It was just like the last one I had after I became an Oshawott, only it was a bit "tamer", plus I was fully aware of my surroundings.

…It's strange how Pokémon have such vivid dreams—almost like you feel awake—and it was very unusual to me how these kinds of dreams occur. Brian mentioned to me it's likely a side-effect of that formula, but hey, this _might_ be a little more than that.

In my dream, I was human. I _felt _human too, which was really odd to me since I had already getting used to having a Pokémon body, and I was walking through the same forest as before. For reasons I could not remember, I was going to meet someone, and I was late. I looked at my watch and realized my lateness, so I began to run.

As I ran however, I began to notice something very strange. Either the forest was getting larger, or _I_ was getting _smaller_. It wasn't long until grass that was once at my shin level began brushing against my face, which made me feel quite disorientated. I tried to pay little mind to it, and brushed the now huge foliage out of my way. I kept on running, though somehow it was rather…awkward trying to do so. Why was using my feet such a chore all of a sudden? Within two minutes I finally reached a clearing.

The clearing was dark, wide, and empty. It ran in one huge circle pattern, and the grass in this area was unusually short (compared to the tall grass I was wading through moments ago). Something wasn't right. This is where I was supposed to meet someone. But where was that someone? I walked ("waddled" is a more proper term) around the clearing, searching for something—anything—in vain, until suddenly a bright light appeared above me.

I looked up, wincing from the incredible brightness, then saw in the middle of the light…a Pokémon? It _had_ to be a Pokémon…though its name sort of escaped me… Heck, I couldn't even remember what it mostly looked like! But it _did_ have a voice. One that was soft and soothing, yet also firm and orderly at the same time. And I remember what it told me all too well.

_"Maxwell… Maxwell," _it called out of the brightness. _"Answer us, Maxwell…"_

Though I felt nervous, I replied, "I…I'm here! Wh-who are you?"

_"We are…" _The voice hesitated._ "…No, it is too soon for that."_

"But, why won't you tell me?" I protested.

The voice was silent a moment, then answered, _"It is too soon. We will tell you when the time is right. For now, we need to inform you of something else."_

I was about to pester for a name, though since I had no idea who I was dealing with I let and be and replied, "I'm listening. What's so important? Who's involved?"

_"It involves _you_, Maxwell. You and your friends. All of them. Pokémon _and_ human."_

"And…what _is_ it that we're involved in?"

_"…Maxwell, the days ahead will not be easy. We foresee challenges, trials, conflict, and tragedy in your future."_

I gulped. Nobody said becoming a Pokémon would be _this_ involved…

_"Despite that,"_ the voice continued, _"If you proceed forward with your friends, you'll outlast these difficulties. And perhaps someday you'll know true happiness. And maybe even…love."_

My mouth dropped open, and I admit my face flushed a bit red. "Say _what _now? L-love? Are you crazy? I'm only 12! Girls aren't exactly my thing, okay? Eesh…"

_"We understand that. It is only natural."_ I could've sworn that I heard the voice chuckle._ "But we are referring to the future, Maxwell. Not the present."_

"…How can anyone even predict the future? It's totally—"

_"Impossible? Only those without dreams think that. Nothing is impossible."_

"Well…okay…but…what do I do?"

_"For now, you live. Live and be friends."_

"Uhh, that's all? But…"

"_For the time being, yes. You're life as one amongst Pokémon will be a challenging one indeed in the years ahead…"_

"H-huh? P-Pokémon? Aren't I…human? I…_felt_ human a little while ago…"

_"You were. Then you were not. This, is _you_ now, Maxwell."_

"Who? Of course I'm me…right?"

_"Look upon thyself and see."_

I did so, and saw that—to a lot of bewilderment—that I was no longer human, like I was minutes before. Somehow, I had turned back into an Oshawott. This made no sense at all… I was human once, then became a Pokémon, then somehow returned to being a human in this dream, and then, I became a Pokémon _again!_ _What_ was going on here?

_"Surprised? You shouldn't be. You chose this. We had already foreseen that decision for a long time, however. We know a lot of things, Maxwell."_

I was silent. I looked at my tiny Oshawott body for a moment, then sighed and looked up at the light. "Then…if you do know a lot of things…do you know how I can make friends with Mary and Matthew? They won't talk to me at all, so…"

_"Ah, yes. A predicament. Such a large and complicated door, yet with the simplest key."_

"Y-you know how to help me?"

_"The only thing we know, Maxwell, is that to make a friend, you must _be_ a friend."_

"…That doesn't really help, I've tried that…"

_"Have you really? Did that attempt come from your heart? From your soul?"_

"Uhhh, well…I don't know… I'm not really sure…"

_"Hmph. Then you have not. Friends are something special—something eternal—that is only bested by love itself. But in this case, your friends are also your family, and, being that situation, you should love them. Every human and Pokémon loves their own family. Our question is: Do you love yours?"_

The question took me rather odd-guard. "I…they…I…I do…I really have wanted a family all my life… So I guess I love them in _that_ sense…but…"

_"'But' is a word of skepticism. A word of question. A word of doubt. A word of conflict. So, what is the meaning of your 'but'?"_

"…Umm… I just don't really know if it can really happen… To have a real family, that is… I hope it would, and I want it to, so…"

_"'Want' is greed. It is a burden. To want something is to hold oneself back from enlightenment to fruitlessly pursue nonsense. 'Hope', on the other hand, is a desire for faithfulness. It unites us. Having hope is what makes us all strong. Do you understand?"_

"I… I… Yeah. Yes, I do."

_"Good. Now you see, the other five members of your family have been linked by fate since birth. Even when you never knew each other, you were bonded. It was fate that brought you here. Of course, there is something about one member of your family that will make him or her closer than you think. Something you may not see coming. It should become apparent someday."_

"W-woah… That's…a lot to take in…"

_"Indeed. Now, before we leave, remember this: 'To make a friend, you must be a friend…from the heart and soul combined.' Never forget this, and your life will be long, happy, and peaceful."_

"…And that's a guarantee?"

_"Sadly, we can't guarantee anything. The future always moves. It all comes down to your choices. In the end, it will be up to you to decide for yourself, and _hope_ you make the right decisions. Just…do what you feel is right. Farewell…"_

"Umm, bye…light…"

_"And remember… Be a friend Maxwell… Be a friend…"_

The bright orb of light retreated into the air, and quickly vanished without a sound. I was standing there, as an Oshawott, alone in the now-dark forest. At this point I actually had wonders whether or not this whole occurrence was real. But before I could dive too deep into my thoughts, I heard a rustling noise in the brush close to me.

Not knowing who or what could be out this deep in the woods, I called out, "Hello? Is anyone there?"

"H-Hello?" a timid voice that seemed to belong to a young boy responded. "Who's that? I'm scared… I-I want my mommy…"

"Don't worry! I'm right here, just come on out of there!" I said, looking at the bush the voice was coming from.

There was a brief silence, then the voice said again, "Y-You're not going to h-hurt me…right?"

Hurt him? What's he talking about? And why was a kid in the middle of a forest, away from his family? "No! Of course not, that's just not right… It's okay, I won't do anything to you! I'm a _friend!" _

"…Friend? You'll be my…friend?"

"Of…of course. Any friend in need is a friend indeed…right?"

"I…_think _so… Okay, I'll come out."

I half-expected to see a kid—a human one that is—come out of those bushes, but I was quite surprised that, as the being was revealed, the voice had belonged to a Pokémon; a Caterpie to be exact. It looked really frail and near-terrified, which was understandable. The caterpillar Pokémon came out of the bushes, saw me, and then came rushing to my side. Caterpie huddled itself against me, as if it was seeking comfort and protection, so I gave him a little hug to help reassure him.

At that moment, I heard the voice of that Pokémon in the light. _"The first test," _it whispered, as if the voice was resonating throughout the forest. Strangely enough, Caterpie didn't seem to hear anything.

"Did you…hear something just now?" I asked, a bit curious.

Caterpie looked up at me with confusion. "N-No… Not just now anyway…"

Here is where I got confused. I heard it, but Caterpie didn't? Then how… Well… it didn't really matter at that point. I asked him what he was doing in the forest.

"I…I was with my m-mommy," he began, voice cracking, "And then…I wandered a little too f-far into the forest…a-a-and…and…I…I can't find my mommy anywhere!" Caterpie broke down in tears, so I gave him another hug. He was obviously just a baby still…so…I had to help him get home. What else could I do at that point anyway? Besides, I couldn't stand the thought of just leaving him alone there.

"Don't worry," I told him reassuringly, "I'm here. I'll help you. You can trust me—as a friend."

Caterpie sniffled, and seemed to cheer up a bit. "T-thank you…friend…"

I felt touched by this little Pokémon's innocence and helplessness. He really seemed willing to trust me. Then again, if you were alone and lost in a dark forest, I'd imagine that you wouldn't be picky in choosing your heroes. But something about this whole situation seemed 'off'… If this was a dream, it was _way_ too real to be one.

I began to lead Caterpie through the forest, and, even though I honestly had no clue where I was going, I pressed onwards with the baby Pokémon under my protection. Finally, after what seemed like an hour, the forest around us became brighter and brighter, and I realized that exiting the forest was imminent.

"We're almost there!" I exclaimed, patting Caterpie on the back. "It looks like the exit is real close, so hang on a little longer, okay?"

"O-okay!" Caterpie said with a hint of excitement in his quiet little voice. "I get to be with my mommy again, I'm so happy!"

I smiled brightly down at him, noting his growing eagerness, and then looked back ahead. The path we were on was starting to become wider, and the light brighter. Finally, I could see a distant opening in the thick forest bush: The outside world.

A feeling of anticipation suddenly rushed through me, so I yelled on impulse, "There, there! We're almost out!"

Caterpie wasted no time in picking up the pace significantly, and he somehow managed to run—err, crawl ahead faster than me. I ran faster in response, and under a minute later, we were finally outside. The moment the bare sunlight washed over us both we stopped and tried to catch our breaths.

"We…made it… _Hoof…" _I said in-between gasps for air. "We're out of there… _Huff…"_

The little Caterpie was also exhausted, but seemed to pay no mind to that fact. "Where's my mommy? She's supposed to be right around here!" he squeaked.

_"My baby! You're safe! I've been looking all over for you!"_

Surprised, I looked up to see a Butterfree quickly fluttering towards us, and Caterpie squealed with happiness. _"MOMMY!" _he cried in response, and rushed as fast as he could to the Butterfree's open embrace. It was quite obvious to me that this Butterfree was Caterpie's mother.

"Caterpie! My little darling!" Butterfree cried, holding her 'baby'. "I'd thought I lost you! Oh, heavens above, where _were_ you?"

Caterpie was weeping quite a bit, obviously overjoyed to be reunited with his mom, so his speech was pretty cracked. "M-M-Mommy… I-I…thought I'd n-n-never…s-see you a-again… It was s-so _s-s-s-scary…"_

Butterfree sighed heavily and hugged him tighter. "It's okay, sweetie… You're safe now…"

"M-Mommy, mommy! My friend over there helped me out of the scary forest!" the Caterpie said, and looked back at me, his eyes sparkling.

His mom looked over at me as well, and immediately flew over to where I was, cradling Caterpie while doing so. "You were the one who saved my precious baby?" she asked.

I was feeling pretty nervous, but I smiled as sincerely as I could and replied, "Uh, yeah… I suppose I did. It was really no trouble at all—"

"Oh, _thank you! _Thank you so much!" Butterfree cried. "I'm so grateful! I can't thank you enough!"

"Umm… That's…okay. I just thought it would be a nice thing to do is all," I said shyly, chuckling with a little embarrassment. Okay, I'll be honest here in saying that I was faking modesty, though Butterfree bought it full-priced and then some.

"You're too modest! Who knows what could've happened to my baby in there all alone! I am in your debt!"

If this was a dream, then I guess it didn't really matter who was indebted to whom. It would all just vanish in the end, anyway. But despite that, I went along with the situation (on the off chance it _wasn't_ a dream). "Uh, you're welcome…?"

"Oh, won't you please tell me your name, so I can remember you properly?"

"Err…" Should I really? Or maybe not? It wouldn'tve really mattered either way, so I decided to tell her. "M-Maxwell… That's my name. Real name, anyway."

"Maxwell? That's quite an odd name for a Pokémon. But oh well, it doesn't matter. I must thank you again!"

"Eheheh… That's okay, really… It wasn't a problem at all."

"Oh,_ again _with the modesty! Heehee… Well, if you're ever around here again, then do come by and see us! You're always welcome to our home!"

"O-okay…sounds great!" But where is _here? _That wasn't really obvious from just looking around…

"Great! I'm sure my little Caterpie would love to have you over to play sometime, too!"

"Y-yeah! I _love_ playing!" Caterpie chimed, still being held by his mom.

Again, I was touched by the little bug's cuteness and innocence. Many people aren't all that 'fond' of bug-type Pokémon, and I'll admit I wasn't either. But here I had a previously unknown sense of empathy for all Pokémon. I suppose that's what I get for being a Pokémon myself, heh.

"Come on Caterpie, it's time to go home," Butterfree said, and after a final farewell, she and Caterpie went off into the distance to their home, which left me alone at the forest's edge. As they flew away though, I could hear Caterpie cry out to me_, "Bye, friend!"_

That last word _'friend' _made me feel unusually happy. I waved to them, even though they were quite far away, up until the point where I could see them no more. Right then, I heard that strange voice speak to me again. _"Very good. You have learned what it means to be a true friend. Our work is done here. From here on out, you must find your own way…"_

What is he—I'm assuming it's a _he_, for simplicity's sake—talking about? Learned what it means? Must find my own way? And why does he keep saying "we", "us", and "our"? Is there more than one somehow…?

_"Now, Maxwell… Awaken."_

* * *

It was around then that I suddenly woke up, gasping with surprise. It seemed almost as if someone had suddenly kicked me out of my unconscious state. The dream was still fresh in my mind, as if it was burned into it. What was all that about, I wondered? Who, or _what_, did that voice belong to? How does it somehow know_ "everything"__?_ And why do I keep asking myself obvious questions with no good answers? …Heck if _I_ know.

Upon realizing that the whole event was merely a dream, I wearily pulled my groggy self out of bed and instinctively went to put on my clothes. How _stupid_ is that? I wandered around the room searching blankly for clothing to wear (I was so used to doing that at the orphanage) until it occurred to me that, not only was there no dresser to be found anywhere, I wasn't even able to wear human clothing anyway! When I realized that oh-too-obvious fact, I swear my face turned quite red with embarrassment. Not just because I looked stupid trying to do what I did, but also because Pokémon are always…bare (I'll leave it at that, figure the rest out on your own). It would've been _much _worse if everyone else was even awake at that point, but thank _God_ they weren't. I'm going to have a hard time looking at Pokémon the same way again, though…

I quickly remembered about both my baby-sized baseball hat (which funnily enough I had left on my head since yesterday and had worn throughout the night) and my shell, which I left hidden under the bed's pillow, so I hurried back to my bed and fished the latter item out from under said pillow. Right when I was attaching the shell back to its proper position, I heard a voice behind me. _"Eh…? Maxwell? Yer up already?" _it said. Recognizing it as Warren's voice, I spun around to see him sitting up in his bed, gazing at me curiously.

"Oh, umm… Good morning Warren!" I said rather cheerfully, hoping to ease the morning tension. "How was your night? Mine was…okay." I didn't really feel like telling him about that dream I had just yet. If I did, he might call me crazy or something, so I pushed it to the back of my mind.

He was silent for a minute, his expression frozen with uncertainty and ears drooping a bit, then finally replied, "Y-yeah, it was a'ight. Nuttin' special or anythin', so…"

"So…what?"

"Uhh…_nothing! _Nothing at all! Eh-heh…"

I gave him a weird look. Something about Warren seemed a little apprehensive, as if he was holding something back. "Is something the matter?" I asked at last, simply dying to know. "You seem a _bit_ on the…dodgy side."

He seemed surprised by my implication. "W-what? Eh…_n-n__o! _Nothin's the matter! Honest! And…_err…_it's not really important anyway!"

"…"Not really important"? You_ just _said there was nothing!" I insisted. Okay, his behavior simply screamed _'weirdo!'_ at this point. What _is_ he hiding?

"It's…it's… Uhh… _Oh!_ It's morning, right? Er, yes it is! Breakfast time! Um, see ya Max!"

"But—"

Warren sped right off before I could stop him, so I couldn't make him come clean about his behavior. But before I could chase him, the other Pokékids started waking up, starting with Steve. I heard him rise from his bed, so I turned to look at him. His red eyes gave me a very curious stare when my own met them, and he said nothing for a few moments. Since it was only proper courtesy, I spoke first, "G-Good morning, Steve."

"…Morning," he replied quietly, still staring at me intently, as if he was trying to see through me. What on _earth_ was he thinking? Does he—oh no, did he figure out about the dream…?

Shuffling nervously, I asked somewhat jokingly, "So, what stuff are you trying to dig out of my brain _now?"_

Steve rolled his eyes. "At the moment, not a whole lot. I'm just curious 'cause your mind's all clouded up. I can't really _'see' _anything, if you get my drift."

"Umm… 'Clouded'? _Wha?"_

"Something's happened to make your mind a bit…hard to read. Maybe it's some kind of interference, or…I dunno. _Something."_

"Well, I do still feel a bit tired, since I just woke up…is that it?"

He shook his head. "Not that I've seen before. It's more 'extreme' than that… Interestingly enough, I could feel the same thing coming off of Warren…"

"Huh… What about the others?"

"…Hmm. No, I can still see their thoughts fine right now. Heheh. You should hear the stuff Matthew dreams up…"

I grimaced. "_Something_ tells me I don't want to. Well…see ya. I guess I'll…have breakfast?"

I saw Steve glance at a nearby wall clock, and then he looked at me with a coy smile. "At_ 5 o'clock _in the morning?"

"Err…yes?"It's _THAT_ early? Wow, I can't believe I never noticed…

He shook his head and chuckled, then just mumbled something barely audible and seemed to go back to sleep. Wow, that was quick.

With that little conversation with Steve over, my thoughts quickly turned to how Warren was behaving. He wanted to skip that question I asked him like it was _his_ butt on the wire, which struck me—it would've struck _anyone—_as strange. All I know is that if he thinks I'll forget to ask him that question again, then he's got another thing coming. But for now, I _do_ have more important things to attend to. Namely, my breakfast.

Yeah, _breakfast…_

* * *

Well, I really didn't wanna run frum Max, but whut choice did I have? I couldn't jus' _tell _'im whut happened last night—_or_ the nights before—'cause he'd _never_ believe me. That there boy's a good kid, yeah, but ah'm sure he has a limit on 'crazy'… But, if ya'll ask me, he's too inquisitive fer his own good.

Eh? Oh, right. The name's Warren. Y'know, the friendly neighborhood kid-turned-Pikachu with a PhD in tinkerin'. Heheh, okay that was a joke, but ya'll get whut I mean. Ah'm here since…well, I told Max 'bout it already; 'bout how I ditched my old home and went out Lord knows where… An' then Brian picked me up at that there orphanage and offered up the chance ta become a Pokémon. _Obviously_ I took it, since I figured it would be better than whut I was going through at the time. Why a Pikachu ya'll might ask? Well, they're cute lil' thangs, plus that 'lectricity-making power is purty useful for stuff. Do I regret any o' that? _Heck no! _But that dream… _Yowsa_.

Anyway, I ran inta the kitchen area after leaving the bedroom - I ended up having ta run on all fours, since it was faster that way - then took a peek o'er behind myself ta make sure Max wasn't followin'. Luckly, he wasn't, but I could clearly hear both him and Steve in the bedroom talking about somethin'. Since becomin' a Pikachu, my sense o' hearing got way better than usual (thanks to them big ol' ears of course), so I could hear their conversation purty well. 'Spite that I didn't really care much ta pay a lotta 'ttention ta whut they were sayin', so I wandered around to try and find some kinda food (since I was feeling purty peckish).

As I looked 'round, I began to notice how hot it was gettin' in here. Right away I blamed it onda fact that I had_ fur _coverin' my body instead o' just skin. I guess it would be useful fer outdoorsy places an' the like, but in here it wasn't really doin' a whole lot fer me comfort-wise. Eh, ah've put up with it fer the last two days, and ah'm used to it by now, so it don't really matter. I kinda get_ itchy _sumtimes though…'specially behind my ears or neck or…wherever else…

Finally, thanks to my much better sense o' smell, I found the 'fridgerator. I managed ta pry the door open and checked the thang top ta bottom, lookin' fer somethin'—_anythin'_—edible. Lucky fer me, I found some o' that Pokéfood frum yesterday (Brian made sum extra, so we could have somefin' ta eat if we ever got hungry). I grabbed a bowlful of the stuff, then walked on o'er ta the little table back in the living room. Sittin' down at it, I started munchin' away at my food fer a minute or two, 'til I heard a voice make an_ "Ahem!" _noise.

Right away, I_ knew _who it was, so I didn't bother ta look up. Wasn't until I heard him callin' my name, _"Warren," _a buncha times that I slowly looked up. As I thought, it was Maxwell. He was holdin' a bowl of his own fill'd with food, and his dark-color'd Oshawott eyes were givin' me such a pitiful look…

I was _NOT_ in the mood ta talk, since I knew he would throw that dang question on me again. So what'd I do? I just slid mah goggles down over my eyes ta cover my own look of weakness, and then looked back down at my food, sayin' nothin' more than a, "Hey."

Maxwell sat right on the opposite side of the table, facin' me, and started eatin' his own food. Neither o' us spoke fer a minute. You know, I _wanted_ to tell him. I really did want to. But…I couldn't. Like I said, he'd never believe me. But, if he's so darn desperate for answers then…

"Warren… Come on… What's the matter?" he said suddenly. "All I did was ask a question. You didn't have to _run_ from me."

I didn't look up, I merely mumbled somefin' that made no sense ta me or him, mainly outta uncertainty.

Max sighed loudly, an' he kept up wif the attempt ta persuade me. "What_ is _the matter? Did something happen last night?"

"…It's nuttin'," I said under my breath. "Ya shouldn't be too worried 'bout it…"

"But I _am! _Come on, you weren't—and _aren't—_acting yourself. Tell me the problem already!"

I said nuttin'. Maybe if I kept silent, he'd just leave me alone. But if I did that, then I wouldn'tve learned frum what happened with Steve yesterday…

Max was clearly getting a lil' peeved, as he slapp'd a paw down onta the table. "Alright,_ seriously! _What's with the silent act? Aren't I your friend? Can't you _trust_ me?"

"…Course I can," I said at last, lookin' up a lil' bit. "I jus'…dunno if you would believe whut I have ta say…"

He looked at me weird; as if he was tryin' ta say _"Are ya kiddin' me?" _through looks alone. "Of _course_ I'd believe you! Since when have you lied about _anything?"_

Well, he has a point. I have been purty truthful, I'm sure, so I don't see a reason not to tell 'im. Then again, would he believe me if it sounded crazy enough? I shook my head in r'sponse to his question.

"There! _See? _Even if it sounds crazy… Believe me, I've _seen_ crazy."

"…How crazy?"

"Crazy and then some."

"Then why don'tcha tells me about _your _story?"

"Well, would _you_ believe _me?"_

"Uh, sure… Ah'll bite. Whut is it?"

Max took a deep breath, and looked ta the side a bit. "…I had a dream last night."

I suddenly looked right up at him, and pulled my goggles off. "A d-dream? Ya had one _too?" _

"Well…yeah, it was pretty weird… A voice was talking to me about really philosophical stuff… And how all of this was pre-determined or something."

"…Really now? No kidding?" Holy roly-poly, somefin' ain't right here…

"I'm _sure_ of it. After that, I helped this Caterpie escape from a forest back to its mother, and then…it was over."

"Wow…that's…sum dream."

"And to cap it off…it felt so_ real…_like…I was _actually there_. I couldn't tell if it was real or not; heck, I _still_ can't!"

"…Insanity, I say. Not that I don' believe ya, but man, oh, man…"

"Well, I've told you _my_ crazy night. Now tell me yours."

Ugh. I guess I was atta crossroad here. Whut _shud_ I tell 'im? Max looked purty honest, so I guess… Why not… Ah'll tell 'im. "…Ya got me. It went like this…"

He chew'd onna coupla pieces o' his food, an' look'd back at me. "Go on. Do tell."

"Well…I hadda dream too, ya know. Kinda weird like yers, but slightly different."

"In such a way as…?"

"Well, that them voice was there, talking all philosophy and all. Kinda like yers, only I had this dream twice 'fore too."

"R-Really?Were they the same thing, or was it different every time?"

"Eh, yay and nay. It was the same voice and place - a forest - every time, but he would tell me different thangs. Like, onda first day, which was the night I 'came a Pokémon, that voice told me 'bout pre-destiny and how my "family" would soon be brought together."

"Wow…that sounds a bit like mine, only now the_ 'family' _is already together…"

"Yeah, I guess so… Yesterday night, the night Samantha, Steve, and Mary show'd up, the voice told me that there would be challenges ahead, an' that ta make a friend, ya gotta _be_ a friend."

"Oh! That's_ exactly _what he said to me last night!"

"No kiddin'? I guess that voice is…the same one somehow?"

"How is _that_ possible? I think the voice is actually a Pokémon…but I don't know its name… Heck, I can't even remember what it looked like!"

"Me neither. Let's assume that it _is_ the same one, ta be simple. Anyway, jus' last night, when you an' Matthew first showed up, the voice said that the seal o' friendship is close ta bein' made…an' that today is the day it wud be finalized."

"Now that, I don't remember from my dream…"

"I s'ppose not. It said that Steve is the key or somethin'… An' that you and Matthew are s'pposed ta be my closest friends."

"…Really? Heh, well…I guess that's half true, huh?"

"Yeah, heheheh… Ima been thinkin' it wud take me and ya both ta persuade him over, so…maybe we shud do that later?"

"I don't like the sound of it, but we could try sometime. We'd _probably _fail, but…eh, whatever."

"Alrighty then… Anyways, it also told me somefin' a bit more…_unsettlin'…"_

"Umm…what?"

"…Well…it said that…it sees…_tragedy…_in the future…"

"It said that to me too… Hmm, but what _kind_ of tragedy?"

"Not sure… But I think I'd rather not know, buddy…"

"…Me neither. I've had enough craziness for _two_ lifetimes already."

I chuckl'd a bit at that. That Maxwell, he can be a pretty quick-witted guy, though I hafta wunder where he cums frum sumtimes… We didn't talk a whole lot after that, but at least the ice was broken b'tween us. I carried on wif eatin' my food, but when I did I coulda swore I saw _somefin'_ jus' disappear inta the bedroom through the door… Ah, it was probably jus' my imagination again, so I ignored it and carried on with my meal. Then I thoughta somethin'.

"Hey, Max?"

"Huh? Yes?"

"Ya ever wunder why we're here?"

"Umm…is this a trick question?"

"No, it isn't. Ima just saying, why are we _here_ here?"

"You mean, here—at the facility?"

"Nah, nah; I meant like, why we even _exist? _On earth?"

"…Philosophy makes my brain hurt, okay? Can we _please—?"_

"Well, I might havit figgered out! You know how people are always going on about God and stuff? Well, I have this theory…"

"Ugh… Here we go…"

* * *

Phew, I hope that they didn't see me just now. Perhaps Warren did, as I could sense him gazing in my general direction curiously, but he seems to have ignored me. That conversation of theirs had more than enough information to take in, so at least now I have a half-decent explanation for how their minds are all fogged like that. Okay, I know eavesdropping on those two is kind of…_not_ so good, but I needed to know.

I'm Steve by the way, in case you haven't caught on to that yet. Not sure if I should explain my past…but…hmm, I may as well, if you're so curious. I had no parents, as far as I could tell. I was raised for most of my life by a spiritualist, who had taught me much about the world of psychic abilities. Make sense now that I became a Psychic-type Pokémon? A Ralts, specifically? Anyway, she somehow even predicted her own demise, with startling accuracy, so after that I had to make do on my own. I got picked up by a city orphanage over on the outskirts of town about a week after that, and I stayed there for a few years. I never bothered in socializing with others; I just stayed in my room honing my psychic abilities, which weren't very impressive to say the least. A couple days ago, Brian came and found me, and before I knew it…here be I. Interesting story or not, that's my life.

After I was done listening in, I hurried back to the bedroom to think for a bit, and maybe practice my skills as well. When I entered, I was half-surprised to see Matthew and Mary both fully awake. It didn't surprise me that they were awake, what surprised me is that they were_ talking _to each other - in a fairly civilized if somewhat reluctant conversation. Even stranger, now_ both _of their minds were all clouded up like Warren's and Maxwell's!_ Very _strange, as it wasn't like this when I was here minutes ago. As such, I couldn't tell what they were thinking, so I had no idea what prompted this sudden change of heart. Before this, those two wouldn't talk to each other _or_ the rest of us…

"…So, uh, did you have a weird dream lately? Out of curiosity?" I heard Mary ask Matthew. Neither of them had noticed me yet, so I hid behind one of the beds and continued to listen in.

"Hmm. I _may_ have, though I don't really see why you're so concerned, or why you're even bringing that up," Matthew replied rather stiffly.

"Well…I actually had a real strange dream myself, and I was wondering if you might know anything about it…"

"Then why don't you go ask those other drips? Looks like most of 'em are in the other room, so go knock yourself out."

"B-But…it was the voice… I-it told me to…to talk to _you…"_

_"Me?_ The _heck? _Now you're creeping me out, Pengi."

"It's _Mary_… But, oh…I can't take acting all hissy and mean-looking to everyone anymore… I really don't want that…"

Matthew gave a snort of derision. "Hmph. Probably shoulda thought of that BEFORE alienating yourself. Way to go, Bluebell."

"My name is _MARY_… Please… Oogh… That v-voice…it said you were supposed to _tell _me something!

"Why, sure it did! I was supposed to tell you to GO AWAY. Now beat it, I need some time to myself…"

"…Matthew… That's your name, right? I… Oh,_ forget it…"_

"I never thought it would end. Get outta here, _please. _There. I said please. Now go."

"…Fine. I'll…talk to the other guys then… _Sigh…"_

As I hid, listening on their conversation, I must say that Mary wasn't really as bad as she seemed. Of course, I could tell from loose mind-reading that she wasn't _evil _or anything, but she obviously kept her feelings bottled up (a bit like Max, I noted). Mary, from what I gather, is emotionally sensitive, meaning that she is deeply affected psychologically by stress and other forms of harassment. I began to wonder, was Mary ever bullied harshly in her life? I'd have to say _maybe_, but to be sure I could skim through her thoughts…

…Oh, right. Silly me, I forgot that her mind is somehow unreadable right now…since it's so clouded. But why is it that way? From what I can tell, everyone whose mind that has been "fogged-up" (so I couldn't see their thoughts very well at all) had a dream last night. Each of their dreams had a common theme: A voice would speak to them about something. I'm not sure what Matthew's dream was about, since he never elaborated (when I was listening in anyway), but I'll assume it was similar. The only one who probably _didn't_ have a dream like that is Samantha, since her mind was still clear (if a little turbulent). And of course, I never had a dream like this ever before, since if I did, I wouldn't be so curious about all this. Now, the only question is, why and how were those dreams happening—

"_Eeeep! _W-were you listening to us just now?"

"Ohh!" I exclaimed, startled at being discovered, so I quickly turned to the voice's source. Turned out, it was Mary, since she was passing by to leave the room and saw me hiding when she went past the bed I was at. "Umm… Well, truthfully, yes. Forgive me; I was just being curious…"

Mary's look of shock slowly dissolved into one of annoyance. "Oh, don't do that, you…_n__rgh," _she grumbled, and finally left the room. Right then, I suspected that Matthew was aware I was hiding here, since I heard him call me out.

_"Hey!_ Whoever's hiding there, you better come out before I have to come and get you myself!"

I sighed gently, and shook my head. I wasn't meaning to confront him, but now was a better time than ever. Walking back out into the open, I looked at the Snivy named Matthew, who was giving me a nasty glare that probably would've unsettled me if it were not for the fact that I could handle him no problem in a fight...but no part of me wanted to come to_ that_.

Matthew tapped his foot impatiently, and shook his head. "_Tsk, tsk, tsk… _Didn't your momma ever teach you to not eavesdrop? It COULD land you in big trouble, buddy," he said sharply. Clearly, he was not fond of me.

"For the record, I never had a mother," I dully informed him. "I was raised by a clairvoyant for most of my life, so—"

"A _gypsy?"_ he spat, and chortled. "Heh. No wonder you're such a loner, _and_ a pussy to cap it off."

"Speak for yourself, snake eyes. Why don't you wipe that smug grin off your face and act like you _actually_ have a spine?" ...Hey, I can be witty if I want to.

Matt didn't seem to like that one bit, as he clenched his small three-digit hands and gritted his teeth. "You talk big. So, do ya like playing Mr. Wise Guy?"

"Not really. I have more dignified things to do, so you can have that position."

"Flattery will get you nowhere, dude. I suggest you leave me alone before I have to do something nasty."

"Hm. Of course. I apologize,_ dude. _I actually have more interesting things to be doing, so I_ will _leave. Take care, then."

"…Just get out of here. And you _better_ watch your step from now on, kiddo."

"How terrifying. Let me know when you have a _real_ threat planned out."

I quickly started out the door after letting him stew with my retorts, but I wasn't _quite_ finished with him yet. As I stood in the doorway, I looked back at Matthew, who was still giving me that glare. I sighed a bit, and then decided to pull one last gambit. No jokes this time 'round.

"…Matthew. Your life sucked, I imagine."

"That's none of your business! What's mine is _mine_, so you can _butt out!"_

"I'll take that as a yes. Look, isn't there a reason you came here?"

"There may have been. But why do _you _need to know?"

"I'm just curious. I came here because I was _hoping_ to be part of something great. And right now, you're not helping."

"Who _cares?"_

_"Everyone._ Me, Warren, Samantha, Maxwell, and even Mary care. And so do Brian and Frank. Can you face us all at once, and say you _don't care _about us or anyone else?"

He was silent.

"I thought so. You're making it hard for not only us, but for yourself. At this rate, you'll be _miserable_ for the _rest of your life_. Do you _really_ want that?"

Again, Matthew did not respond.

"…I heard Warren and Max earlier say something about being _friends_ with you, believe it or not. According to them, they all heard a voice in their dream too. It told them, _"To make a friend, you must be a friend." _We're _trying_ to be friends now. _We_ tried, _Brian _tried, and on top of that,_ everyone _tried. And you brushed us off."

The Snivy slowly looked at the floor.

"I've never in my life seen such an anti-social monster like you. I may have avoided contact with most others, but at least I was friendly and willing enough to try and be a friend now. You…you're something else. You know what? You don't deserve to be friends with us anyway. You don't deserve to be here. You don't even deserve to exist."

Matthew's head drooped even lower.

"We'd be better off without you, you know. It's as you said: 'Who cares?' Who cares if you're not here? No one will, that's who. So, just take that in mind."

"…I thought I asked you to _leave."_

"I will. And I am. Goodbye…you big _jerk_. Drop dead."

Without another look back, I went out the door into the kitchen. I could hear voices that belonged to Warren, Maxwell, and…someone else, so I went to rustle myself some food from the fridge (where _else_ would it be?) so I could join them in eating breakfast (Still wasn't even past 5:20 AM though).

Heh, I sure gave that Matthew something to chew on back there. I wondered for a minute. Will it convince him? Who knows. Maybe not, but as he said, _who cares? _

After picking me up some of that rather great Pokéfood, I walked back into the living room area, where I saw, to great surprise, _Mary_ at the table talking with both Warren and Maxwell. They really seemed to be engaged in some interesting conversation, so I walked up to them and joined in, taking a seat at the table.

"Morning, guys. What're you talking about?"

* * *

**A/N: UPDATED: So, how'd you like the edits? You may or may not have noticed too much difference, but that's okay I guess… I did change up some of the dialogue I didn't like, however. It doesn't really change the story much though, so old fans don't need to fret. ;)**

**Review where it's due, osha! Until next update, fare thee well!**

**-TheAuthorGl1m0**


	6. My New Family

_**Genta City Downtown District - 12 years ago…**_

All is calm and quiet on the streets of Genta City. Down one of these urban passages is a tiny orphanage, a shelter for homeless children if you will. On this street late one night, as the sky grew heavy with dark clouds of foreboding, a lone figure walked down one side of the road. The figure is a woman, and she carries a baby girl, gently nestled in a blanket.

The woman, wearing a heavy coat in anticipation of the weather, stopped in front of the shelter. She gazed up at the brick and mortar structure, and sighed. "(_Yes, this will do,)" _she thought. "(_My little baby can be safe from now on…)" _The woman slowly approached the wooden doors, and hesitated.

Lifting the cradled baby, sleeping peacefully, to her eye level, the woman smiled gently. _"(My little baby…)"_

She frowned. This would be the last time she may ever she her daughter again. Tears began to trickle down her face, and she hugged the baby in a motherly embrace and gave it a kiss on the forehead. _"(It's for the best… Please… Stay strong…)" _The woman laid the cradled baby in front of the door._ "(…My darling Samantha…)"_

Taking a last look at her baby girl, and the note she left attached, the woman rang the building's doorbell. Within seconds, a few lights of the shelter turned on and voices were heard inside. Around the same time, the promised storm began to start, as a distant rumbling became audible and rain fell from the sky - lightly at first, then growing in intensity. Seeing that it was time to leave, she quietly whispered "Goodbye, my love…" to her baby, then rushed into the blackness of the night, and was overcome by the growing storm. No more was she ever seen.

_**CRRRACK!**_

A huge bolt of lighting landed close by, startling the baby from its sleep, and began to cry. The voices from inside grew more frantic, and within seconds the door burst open, a middle-aged woman stepping out. She curiously gazed around her, then looked at her feet, and gasped. A little bundled baby girl was there, wrapped up, and crying. Picking up the baby, the woman cooed and rocked it until the baby became silent again and fell asleep.

"Martha? _Martha? _What is it?" a voice from inside yelled. An old man came out with a few of the orphan kids at his side, looking quite concerned. "What's with all the commotion? I just got woken up by these lil' tots sayin' that there was someone at the door!"

"There _was," _the woman named Martha replied, and showed the baby to the man. "Someone left this poor baby on our doorstep."

The man looked stunned. "Someone just… Now hang on! Who'd _do _that?" he said, scratching his head.

"I have no idea…but…they left a note," Martha said quietly, and removed the little letter that was attached to the baby's blanket. Opening it up, she began scanning through it, and then read aloud, _"Please, I must ask for you kind people to take of my daughter. Her name is Samantha. As much as it kills me, I have no choice but to do this. My baby deserves better than living in poverty. My husband had passed unexpectedly, and my finances are in ruin. No home, no food, and no clothing, though with endless love. Alas, not all the love in the world can keep my dearest Samantha alive, so I must ask you to. Do not bother finding me; I do not deserve to be alive for abandoning my only daughter, so I will have gone from this world. All I ask is that she be kept safe. And please, let her know that her mother…and her father…love her very, very much. -Mother."_

Martha felt a sharp stab of pity for not only the baby, but for the unknown mother as well. She cast a glance around the street as more rain fell and another bolt of lightning streaked through the stormy sky. This of course, prompted the baby girl named Samantha to cry again, so Martha gave her another cuddle to calm her down.

Then, right then, she noticed the girl was wearing a little charm around her neck. It was gold—or at least gold-plated—and was in the shape of a heart. In the center of this charm, a tiny space in the rough shape of a teardrop pattern was etched. It seemed as if something was meant to fit in that slot, though exactly what that 'thing' was escaped her.

_"It's really pretty…"_

* * *

_**PokéGene Inc - Living Quarters SUB - Present Day**_

I…I had that dream again. Where I was left by my mother, on the doorstep of that orphan shelter… Of all the dreams I could remember, it was the most saddening. Nearly every detail was as if it had been a wood sculpture carved with a very sharp knife. In easier words…it was very clear and vivid, almost like watching a movie. The only thing that I never, ever saw…was…my mother's face. Oh, how I longed to know what she looked like! To have a face to put to my mother's name! I have no idea why I have those dreams…but, it has to be for some reason…

M-my name is Samantha… The one that…um…what do I…? Um… Oh, I'm the one who decided to become a Cyndaquil… But, in case you're wondering why, I…um…well, when I was younger (and human) I had this little fantasy of becoming a Pokémon trainer… So, obviously that never came true, but…if I did, the Pokémon I would've wanted to pick was a Cyndaquil. But, when Brian came and told me about…this…"Pokémon Project" or whatever, I agreed—since my life wasn't very pleasant, let's leave it at that—and…naturally, the Pokémon I became was a Cyndaquil. Not really surprising, huh?

Well, the other thing that bothered me about that dream I had was…my old charm. I had it for so long, so…that day I lost it…it _really_ hurt me. That wonderful gold charm I had for years…just_ vanishing_…I couldn't believe it. Sometimes I still don't… It was so valuable to me, since it was the only thing that reminded me of mother, besides my dreams…and I infinitely prefer the former.

But then I met Max, and he…he just _gave _me his own charm as a replacement when he figured out I lost mine. I couldn't believe he would just…_do_ that, almost without second guessing himself. H-he's so generous… I really don't know_ how _to thank him properly.

This charm of his, when I get a better look at it, kinda-sorta does remind me of my old one. It's a really pretty silver one, shaped kind of like a teardrop with a spiral in the middle, and attached to a little chain. I wore this precious piece of jewelry around my neck, and I swear to never take it off, so I don't lose it like last time.

That Maxwell…he's_ really _nice…and _kind_…and _modest_…and…and… Ooh, come off it Sammy! He's practically your brother now, for goodness sake, don't get any ideas…

Eee… I went and started arguing with myself again… What was I talking about just now? Oh…r-right… Anyway, I also like Warren, too. He's been good to me, never getting on my nerves or ever making fun of me. Warren always would be willing to talk to me or help out whenever I needed it. He's my friend—_and_ adopted brother—after all. And so are Max and Steve.

Moving on… When I woke up, the memory of that dream from last night still vividly clear, I saw that everyone else had already awakened and gone—everyone except for Matthew. He was awake and sitting on his bed, looking a bit…'down,' so to say. Matthew briefly looked up at me, then sighed and looked back down, saying nothing. He looked pretty troubled…b-but I didn't work up enough courage to approach him, so…I just left through the bedroom door.

I wasn't really feeling hungry (I never really_ do _in the morning), so I headed straight to the living room. There, I saw Warren, Max, Steve, and…Mary? What is _Mary_ doing there talking to _them?_ I thought she…never mind.

Since I was so curious about this whole situation, I slowly walked to the table they were all sitting at, and said, "H-Hello guys, good morning. Um…why is Mary…here? Isn't she…?"

"Don't worry about me," Mary replied, looking slightly upset for some reason. "I just…wanted to say…"

* * *

I hesitated. There were now _four_ pairs of eyes staring at me intently, so now the pressure was on. I had only been in a situation like this once before, years ago… No…I won't relive it. It's _far_ too embarrassing to talk about…

Huh? Oh, yeah… People call me Mary. Truthfully, my real name is Mary-Sue, but since I was an orphan, I changed it to just 'Mary.' Sounds good enough, right? And besides, I just…didn't like my old name. I don't know why, but it seemed really…well…not good. I had a LOUSY life… My old parents had dumped me in that orphanage, kids constantly picked on me just because I acted geeky sometimes, and to top it all off, I did really bad in school.

Sure, now is not exactly the best time to be thinking about academics (how could I do it_ now, _anyway?) but that problem I had the last few years really would've put a dent in my future… Were it not for Brian I guess I'd have no idea what I would've done with my life then.

And speaking of Brian, he's the one who brought me into the project a couple of days ago. When it was time to choose which Pokémon to be, I was honestly quite stuck. It seriously took me _hours_ to figure it out, but I finally decided to become a Piplup. Why? I'm not really sure why. I like penguins, since they're cute, and Piplup seems pretty good to me, being a penguin and all. The swimming bit was a pretty nice incentive too.

Anyways…I wanted to apologize to these four, for acting so…what's the word…antisocial. I spent a moment piling up a heartfelt apology, but the others were starting to look a little impatient, so I hurried up and spilled it. "I… I'm…_sorry_… I'm sorry you guys…for acting the way I did…"

The other four exchanged a few looks of uncertainty, and then looked back at me. "…So, umm," the Pikachu (I wasn't really sure what his name was, but I think it was Warren) said, twiddling his tiny digits, "ah'm… assumin' ya… Well…why the change o' heart? And why'dja act like ya did back then?"

"Well…err… I-I…you see…" I stammered, and gulped. "You see…I wasn't treated very nicely for a long while now… And even though I wanted to have friends, I…had to learn to avoid people, so I don't get treated badly again…"

"…So why'dja keep givin' us the evil eye every time ya _look_ at us? That seems purty serious if ya jus' wanted to avoid people. An' _cum on_, we're a nice bunch! Can't ya trust us?"

"Umm, well…I _want_ to, I really want to, but…I couldn't be sure if you were really good or not, so I had to…you know…distance myself a bit. And it didn't really help when there was that…_argument_ between you two." I made a motion towards the Oshawott and Ralts.

"Wait a minute!" the Oshawott (I think I remember hearing that his name is Maxwell) said suddenly. "I never_ meant _for any of that to come out! It was an honest mistake! And besides, Steve's gotten over it! He became part of our group, right?"

The Ralts (named Steve, apparently) spoke up at this point. "Yeah, it's true. I was kind of, well, _bummed_ at first. But I thought about what he said, and I began to look at things a little differently from then on. And so…I became their friend." He walked to Max and put a hand on his shoulder, prompting the Oshawott boy to laugh weakly.

"Eh-heh, yeah, we're friends now," Max said, putting his own hand—err; paw, on Steve's shoulder. "But we're also _family_, right guys?"

Steve, Warren, and the Cyndaquil whose name I was still not certain of, all collectively agreed with a shout. I couldn't help but smile at their closeness. I really had missed out on this… Shame on me by avoiding these guys like I did. But _now_, it would be different.

Clearing my throat, I began to ask, "Umm…guys? I was thinking about something…"

Their eyes turned on me once again, and seemed to give a very expectant look. "What is it?" Warren and Max asked, looking at me with contained eagerness.

Despite the sickening feeling of nervousness creeping inside me, I managed to produce a smile. "I was gonna ask you guys if…if…"

The four of them leaned closer. "Go on…"

"If…I could…be…a part of…ugh…" _How _do I say this without sounding too desperate or sappy? I thought this through a moment, and soon had an answer to my own question. "C-can I…hang out with you guys? You seem like a pretty cool bunch…"

What happened next was pretty quick. The first thing I know, I ask if I could be a part of their group, and the next instant following that, I was swarmed by them. It was _WAY _too much, seriously. To be suddenly surrounded by new friends, all hugging me and happily shouting, was incredibly extreme on my level. Was it_ that _much of an achievement for them to get me to join them? I can't help but feel they wanted me to, despite my attitude. This is a pretty rare occurrence, but for the first time in a while…I felt happy. No, not a fake or delusional happy, but _truly_ happy. God knows how this all came about!

"Excuse me, you guys. If you could cut the happy and huggy act and pay attention to me, then I'd be appreciative. For once."

What? Where did that voice come from? The others, along with myself, turned around to see where the voice was coming from, in the general direction of the bedroom. When we saw who it was, everyone, myself included, gasped.

Wait a minute…that's…

* * *

Guess who.

…

Go on. Guess.

…

Wow, you _really_ like making guesses, don'tcha? Feh, it's not like I have important things to be doing anyway…but yet, here I am. Let's cut to the chase; you wanna know who I am? Fine. My name's Matthew, and don't you dare forget it. Yeah, I know my tone sounds real peeved, I'm always like this. So get used to it.

…

Talkative, aren't ya? Well, since you caught me in a good mood I suppose I better start chattin' it up. To start, I lived a pretty suckish life. Fine, I admit it. That green-headed, red-horned, psycho-whatever was right. I'd be darned to give you details, but I will say this: My parents were separated just under a year ago. Reason why? Get this; my father was involved in a _criminal organization_. It was far off, in some region named…Canto…or Katno…or Kanto…yeah, that's it. Can you guess who? Everyone knows them.

…

Again, you be silent. Hrm. Not a barrel of laughs, aren't you? Moving on, my dad had fallen in with (da-da-dum!) Team Rocket a few years back. Bam. Surprised? Hm, didn't think so; everyone _hates_ them too. Well, my mom had no idea of it, and so it wasn't until that time when my pop got his rear-end handed to him by some kid in red that he came home in shambles and mom figured it out. Things got a bit ugly, and they divorced. I have no idea what happened to dear old dad after that, since he probably went into hiding… Figures.

To be honest, I liked my dad a whole lot better. BUT, my custody was given to mom, on the grounds that my dad was a criminal. Stupidly enough, the man never got locked up, put on probation, or even simply detained. All they did was put him through questioning, and then let him go. Makes me wonder how our justice system functions nowadays…

Anyway, after a couple more years I got sick and tired of living at _"home,"_ so I packed up and left without a word. I skipped from town to town, ended up in an orphanage, then mere months later, that scientist dude Brian found me and offered me this…_chance_, shall we say. We went to Genta City, arrived at the facility, and—badda bing badda boom—I ended up here, as a Pokémon. There. Satisfied?

…What? You wanna know why I chose to be a Snivy? Of all the Pokémon? Umm, personal information much? Sigh… If you really must know, it was more or less a random decision. Something about it seemed cool, and it fits my attitude just fine, so there. Don't believe me? Too. Bad.

So…you must know by now that Ralts sort of gave me a verbal cyanide to choke on earlier. Crude expression, I know, but appropriate. I sat on my bed, wavering my tail (composing of nearly half of my snake-like body) from side to side, feeling like complete crap...which is pretty much an unknown feeling to me. Jeez, I'm aware I can be a jerk sometimes (okay, MOST of the time) but why should I even trust those doops anyway? That's always why I never wanna talk to anyone. I don't trust anyone besides myself, which is _totally_ justified just so you know. The only ones I trust now are that scientist dude Brian and the other guy Frank.

…You know what else I hate to admit? That the Ralts named whoever was _right_ in implying I had a dream about a voice. That dream…man, it creeped me out TO NO END. Ugh. It went on about why I was showing hate towards everyone and acting all mean and stuff and telling me to be more 'open' and bleck. I wasn't paying too much attention, but it somehow made a rather large impression on me. That was the only thing that compelled me to at least exchange a few words with Mary. You know what they say, "Looks are deceiving," hence Mary's attitude earlier was so much different once you talked to her. I was actually somewhat impressed with her real personality, but not enough that I wouldn't be a hassle to her. Eh.

And what else did I hate about what that guy said? He played 'Mr. Wise Guy' and pulled a few (rather snappy, if infuriating) verbal tricks. To follow-up, after I told him to get lost, he played the 'serious' card and pushed all this…stuff in my face. He criticized my behavior (who didn't?) and insisted that I was antisocial and…dare he even said…that I don't deserve to exist. After he finally left, I was mixed with both anger, confusion, and a pang of regret. How dare he talk like that to me…but…he made…interesting points…maybe I…_did_ make a mistake…? Maybe I should…I should've tried to be friendlier…? Nrgh… My mind's a mess…

I sat on my bed for a little while, until at last the only remaining one of us still sleeping—the Cyndaquil—woke up. She looked around the room, apparently for its friends, then at me. I looked at her back, and then looked down again. Not in the mood to talk, I kept telling myself, since I needed to digest what had been talked about.

The Cyndaquil, whose name I can't (and didn't _bother_ to) remember, eventually left the room, and I was alone at last. For a second, it was fairly comforting, so I lay down onto the bed, finding that comfortable position where I lay flat on my back, tail end laid outwards. Stretching out, I put my shortened arms behind my head for support, and crossed my also-shortened legs so I was in a "lounging" position (much like I used to do when I was human). Bored, I idly swung my new tail left and right, sending a slight creeping sensation up my spine. I had only been around here since yesterday, so I still had to get used to my new body some more. The tail seemed like a somewhat…pointless feature, aside from keeping balance or whatever, but it was still a neat little appendage.

As I lay on my bed, bored as all heck and still tired, a sudden realization hit me. It was totally out of the blue, and it made not a lot of sense at first, but I totally got it. I realized that, I actually have both a _reason_ and _purpose_ to be here! And so did everyone else! Logically—and I don't often think logically, so this is special—if we all have similar reasons and purposes…there's no reason we all can't be friends, or at least acquaintances!

My own mind's response to this was, _"What the heck? Do I really believe this?" _As crazy as it sounds, I _actually _did. Though, I still refused to believe I should be friends with those guys, strictly because I didn't trust them. Again, _another_ realization hit me. Brian and Frank both trust them…and they all (based on my observations) seem to trust each other. Even that otter kid, Maxwell (I _think_ that's his name, but details don't concern me a whole lot) seemed to want to be friends with me. And I told him off. Now I feel like even _worse_ crap.

Okay…cue awkward moment…with (thankfully) no witnesses. Now how was I supposed to talk to those guys? Just do it? No way in_ heck_. I'd rather chew my foot off. I snickered at that frivolous thought of talking to those drips and laid back down again, hoping to shrug off the notion. A minute passed, and my _"good" _conscious was still screaming for me to go talk to them. And it never let up. I felt like hitting myself, so I did. But it didn't help. Ugh. Fine…I'll do it… I'll go and see those…guys. Don't expect miracles, though.

I dragged my sorry body out of bed, and then silently walked out the bedroom door (_slinked_ is a more proper word). Following that, I heard distinct voices sounding like those other guys. It also sounded like Mary was talking, but the next thing I knew there were much louder cries of happiness and excitement. I felt like turning around and going back to bed then and there, but my mind said otherwise, so I kept walking and poked my head around a corner to peek into the living room, to see what was up.

Ugh, I _had_ to see, didn't I? Those four other guys were crowding around and hugging Mary, which somehow hit me right in the heart. They seemed so…_happy_. Mary must've just asked to be their friend, and obviously it worked tremendously. I felt myself crack a small smile, but when I realized it I disposed of the foul expression. Somehow, all this happiness and junk was gnawing at my soul, pushing me to act…_nice_. Heh, well, goody for me that I at least have enough of "me" left to be as snarky as I want.

…What? I _can_ you know! Feh, who needs you?

Gulping, since I was swallowing my pride here, I stepped around the corner and approached the cheering quintet. I watched them for a few moments, feeling touched-yet-sickened at this embarrassing show of emotion. After a while I had just about enough, so I called out, "Excuse me, you guys. If you could cut the happy and huggy act and pay attention to me, then I'd be appreciative. For once."

As if there had just been an explosion, everything became dead silent, and they all turned to face me. "Wha…what are _you _doing here Matthew? Why are you here?" the Oshawott—Maxwell—said, then he frowned. "Wait, are you here to—?"

"Insult you and make your life miserable?" I interrupted. "At some point, yes, yes I will. But now, there's something different I wanna say."

The Pikachu cast a brief glance at Max, then at me, and frowned as well. "Well then, what're ya here fer?"

"…Okay, first, I'm just gonna ask you not to start hugging me like Pengy there—"

"It's _Mary!"_

"—and don't you dare make a fuss over it either. Accept it and be happy. Just don't…'_show'_ it."

Maxwell seemed to already guess what I was about to disclose, since he started to grin. "Are…are you saying…?"

"Urgh, yes. I'll be a part of your little _'family'_, okay? Just don't smother me or I'll end you."

"…Duly noted," he said quietly, his smile disappearing, and slowly walked up to me. The others behind him were wide-eyed and had their mouths open. No big shock to me, since who'd have thought I would join them? If I knew any better, I'd _kill _myself for doing this.

Maxwell came up in front of me, and stopped. We stared face-to-face a minute, his eyes staring into mine, and an intense silence gripped the air. Finally, the Oshawott lifted a small arm in my direction. "…Friends?" he offered quietly, holding out his paw expectantly.

I gazed at him with a look of defiance for a moment, then slowly held out my own hand and took his, shaking it. "Sure. Friends." …For _now_, anyway. Despite my best efforts to keep a totally neutral countenance, I couldn't help but let a smug smile gradually form.

Seeing my expression, the otter-boy smiled too, and nodded. "Good then. Welcome to the family, Matt."

"Hmph. Thanks, I suppose. Just make sure you watch your back, I can be a _really_ sneaky guy," I replied, and my smile grew wider.

He didn't seem very comfortable with that last comment I made, but he nonetheless seemed to disregard it and took me forward to meet the others, so I could get acquainted properly with everyone. It was…pretty awkward, since I'm not used to formalities, but they didn't seem to mind too much about that. After we talked for a bit, I learned all the names of those I didn't know. The Pikachu is named Warren, the Cyndaquil is named Samantha, and that Ralts' name is Steve.

Oh yes, Steve. The one who gave me all that crap earlier and lived to tell about it. I dragged him aside for a moment, determined to have a "word" with him. "Hey, Red-eye. Remember our little…argument?"

Steve smirked. "Oh yeah, I do. Are you going to hit me now or something?"

"No…not_ yet _anyway. Just wanted to say…" I leaned close to his ear and barely whispered,_ "Thanks."_

He didn't respond. He just stood there, looking a bit stunned at how I was _thanking_ him for telling _ME_ off. Why'd I do it? Well, easy. First of all, it was because I respected him for defeating me in a battle of words (I've held that title for years and _now_ look what happened). Plus, if it were not for him, I may never have been inclined to join this group of theirs.

Why am I thankful for that? Because, I found out that me and some of the others actually have similar interests! Warren and I talked about mechanics and electronics, which I always liked throughout my (brief) time in school, though I never found a chance to go into it. Maxwell showed me this book called "Evolution of Man" or whatever, full of stuff on anthropology and genetics and psychology and whatever else, so it had a bit of neat content. Mary liked talking about life and stuff, but that didn't interest me too much (I mainly just pretended to be listening to her). Steve talked about his experiences with psychic power and other related paranormal junk, which was somehow even _less_ interesting to me. And Samantha…well, she didn't have a lot to say. But she seemed a little _too_ happy about having another "brother", and as result tried to hug me an awful lot.

Every time, I was able to avoid it (I had a strict_ "No hugging" _policy), but at one point I let my guard down, so Samantha came up and somehow managed to hug me. My first instinct was to struggle, so I did…but it was fruitless. Curse my weak, plant-fiber limbs. The laughter the others produced infuriated me, but I couldn't do a whole lot about it. Then it occurred to me that…somehow…being hugged actually felt…_good_. It was weird to me, as I've never been hugged in my life. My reason for avoiding it? It always seemed really dumb or silly to do something such as hugging. But now…I think I like it. (Samantha didn't let me go for at least five minutes though.)

Alright, there's…not much else for me to say now, so that's all I'm telling you. So get outta here. You heard me, get lost.

…

...No, seriously, get lost.

* * *

Lord in heaven… What a day! First, I have a _crazy_ dream, then find out_ Warren _had a crazy dream, then_ Mary _shows up and wants to join our family, and no sooner did that happen_ Matthew _showed up, apparently having a random change of heart which he refused to elaborate on, and joins us too! What twisted, upside-rightside-wrong universe have we entered? Oh, don't get me wrong; I'm actually _ecstatic_ over this…but it seems so totally _sudden_…perhaps… Nah, impossible…it couldn't be.

Anyway, a few hours after we all got together—talking about our interests and getting to know each other better—Brian came into the room. The instant he saw us all talking and socializing with each other, he was _so_ surprised. We managed to explain we're all friends now, and he was simply overjoyed. So much so, in fact, that Brian offered us a small celebration that we hastily accepted. Even though it was a _tad_ expensive, he still ordered out some food from a nearby restaurant, so we feasted well that lunch…

As for the remainder of the day, it was fairly uneventful. I practiced that _'shell blade'_ trick of mine and decided to show it off again, impressing the others since my technique was quickly improving. Now I can cut wood blocks apart in mid-air! How cool is that?

The others tried some tricks of their own as well. Warren practiced his electricity-producing skills and mechanical tinkering (borrowing my PokéGear in the process, I didn't mind for the reason that I never use it), Samantha just sat by and watched us, Steve produced a few balls of psychic energy to mess around with (he later mentioned that our minds were "cleared up" by midday, so could read our thoughts again… Oogh), Mary was able to blow a few bubbles, and Matthew…well, he didn't do much, he just sat around lazily. Typical, I suppose, but I couldn't really complain.

I have to say, Mary and Matthew joining our family felt really good somehow; like a feeling similar to have just achieved great victory. No wonder, as it was really getting to me how I was supposed to convince those two to join our family… But, I digress.

Oh, and Brian later finally introduced me to his son, Danny, though it was short-lived. We met, shook hand and paw, he talked to me a bit and I would just…nod when he did. Ugh, I'm already sick of not being able to speak English. At least let me know some other language… Hmm, maybe Japanese…

Brian patted me on the back while I stood hopelessly. "I know, I know, not being able to talk normally stinks, doesn't it?"

I nodded…again. Ugh, the goshdarned nodding… My neck was sore from it all…

"I _would_ say I know how you feel, just to cheer you up…but I don't actually, so I can't really say that…"

I stared at him blankly.

"…Yeah. You see, it's really hard to 'program' special things like speech into the CPT formula. Keeping memories intact was hard enough to figure out, but this…umm…well, you know."

"Oshawott… Wo-wott," I moaned. I actually meant to say,_ "I may never speak again… Thanks a ton…"_

He patted me reassuringly, then said, "Don't worry about it, because as I speak…" He paused. "…On second thought, no, not yet. It'll be a surprise."

A surprise? Meh, that's what he said about a bunch of things: "It'll be a surprise." What is it gonna be now, a liver transplant? …Sorry if that sounds a bit pessimistic, but I wasn't in a pleasant mood.

Danny looked at me with a fair bit of pity. "Well, that's a bummer dude. Really. Not sure if I can do anything for ya, but…"

"Wott…osha osh," I said, which when translated meant, _"That's okay…at least I have my friends…" _I looked over at the five of them, all chatting with one another. They saw me watching, and waved to me, except Matthew. He just gave me a tiny smile and a light nod. Well, that's good enough, I guess. Looking back at Danny, smiling, I said, "…Oshawott osha," while I meant to say, _"…Or rather, my family."_

The young scientist seemed completely unsure of what I said, but then he looked towards the Pokékids, who were smiling and waving in my direction, and smiled. "I get it… You _do_ seem pretty good after all," he said with gradual realization. "You got _them_ to keep you company, so I don't see why not being able to speak human language is a big problem. If anything, it seems very…well, interesting!"

"Good point, son," Brian concurred, then turned to speak to me. "After all, they're your brothers and sisters now, Max."

It's true, Danny does have a point. I could talk with the others—my "brothers" and "sisters"—just fine, so was speaking really that necessary, outside of talking to Brian, Frank, and Danny? In here, I guess not.

Climbing into my bed that night, and wishing everyone else a good sleep (everyone returned my call that time, including Mary and Matthew, so hooray!), I wondered about the days ahead. Now that everyone is all together, I think we can deal with anything! …If only life were so kind. I just hope no more surprises are waiting right around the corner…

…I just jinxed myself, didn't I?

* * *

_**Friday, June 11 - Analysis Department - PokéGene Inc.**_

Carter yawned and looked at the clock. 2:38 AM it read. "(_Sheesh_,)" he thought, "(_I have __**got**__ to stop working nights. This genetic sequence is really messed up…)" _He scanned through the testing data on the desk in front of him. They just came off the analyzing machine, though it wasn't even finished scanning the whole gene makeup. So, if there was nothing to see from _that_ result, then he'd have to wait several more _hours_ for the next one.

Feeling groggy, Carter looked at a particular piece of information of the page, and passed it over. Suddenly he stopped, and looked back at it. He did a double take. Were his eyes deceiving him? "(_This couldn't be,)" _he thought. _"(But…i__t really is…)"_

Within seconds Carter burst out the door to the analysis room, paper in hand, and tore across the halls towards Brian's sleeping quarters. Arriving there, he threw open the door, ran inside the darkened room, and shook the snoozing scientist awake. "Get up! Get up now! The results are in!" Carter practically shouted.

_"Waaaah!"_ Brian yelped, jumping out of his bed. "What is it? Who what where? What results? At—" He picked up his end-table clock and gazed at the time. "—2:45 IN THE MORNING?"

"Yes, Brian! Now just look at this for ONE second!"

"Okay…fine then, give me the paper will you?"

Carter hastily handed the document to Brian, then walked toward and flicked on a nearby light switch on the wall. The light hurt his eyes, but Carter had long since learned to put up with it.

Brian reached for the end table beside his bed, grabbed his glasses, and then slipped them on before reading through the scanning results Carter gave him. Then he gasped. "…Oh my…goodness," Brian said slowly, his eyes widening. "This…is exactly I had hoped for…"

"What you hoped for?" Carter inquired curiously, scratching his head, and then realized what Brian meant. "You mean…?"

The scientist nodded, not taking his eyes off the paper. "I do. My suspicion of the formula's potential for medicine…appears to be correct."

* * *

**A/N: UPDATED: So, howdja like the redux? Again, all that was changed was a few spelling/grammer woes, rewording n a few places, etc; nothing that _really_ alters the story in any case. Please don't forget to leave a review and tell me what you think!**

**Review where it's due, osha! Until next update, fare thee (fine folks) well!**

**-TheAuthorGl1m0**


	7. My Old Ailment

**A/N: UPDATED: Yep, another QA update. In fact, _any_ chapter before 9 is due for one… Well, anyway, I tweaked up some dialogue, some minor edits, fixed grammar and spelling, and so on and so forth…**

**Without any further ado, read and review…**

* * *

_**Friday, June 11 - Living Quarters SUB - PokéGene Inc.  
**__**Subject 006 / Name: Maxwell**_

It was strangely quiet this morning.

Why was it strange? Well, for one, earlier this morning—WAY earlier—I was woken up by a lot of noises coming from another room, outside of our living quarters. The noises mainly consisted of banging, crashing, some voices, then silence, then more voices, and then…I can't remember much after that. I must've fallen back asleep at that point.

So, when I got out of bed (putting on my shell and hat, both of which I removed before going to bed last night), and walked into the living room area, it was unnaturally silent. Had I woken up too early? I glanced at the clock, but it was a fairly late time—10:23 AM—and Brian, Frank, or someone else is always up at this time. I knew this too well, since their shuffling feet outside in the halls and conversations from more than a room away were always at least _somewhat_ audible. Did something happen?

I was contemplating what the reason for this odd occurrence might be, when I was interrupted by a familiar noise: my stomach.

"Oh, heheh," I said to myself quietly, half-heartedly chuckling. "I guess it's breakfast time again."

Not wasting another second, I waddled back into the kitchen area and opened the fridge as quietly as I could, then started rummaging around for any food leftovers.

Curiously, over the past couple of days, I had begun to notice that my senses (taste, smell, sight, hearing…) seemed to be getting better. At first (the day I became a Pokémon), they felt…"dulled", as if I had just come out of a cold or something. But today, my senses seemed to be tons better than I could ever remember them being when I was human. The only significant improvement though, would have to be my sense of smell.

It was because of this that finding the food in the fridge became oodles easier. Of course, my smaller size made it tricky to dig around the fridge properly without climbing inside and knocking a random food item loose. Fortunately for me, there was some of the pizza that Brian ordered yesterday (for our 'celebration' of sorts, which I've elaborated on earlier) leftover inside it, and it still seemed pretty eatable.

I'm not really that picky, so I grabbed a slice of the stuff and brought it back to the living room dining table, and took a seat at it. Okay, I know pizza may not seem like a conventional "breakfast," but let me tell you, I was _pretty_ hungry. I may have just as easily eaten cardboard (which tastes not dissimilarly from school food). Plus, we didn't have any cereal…

Chewing on the pizza, which (although a bit stiff) was still pretty tasteful, I looked up across the room and saw that Warren and Mary had gotten up by now and were walking into the room. I waved to them and said hi, my mouth still having a chunk of cold pizza in it, and they cheerfully greeted me in response.

The two of them sat down at the table next to myself, and it surprised me that neither of them had any food with them. Swallowing down what food I had in my mouth, I asked, "What's up? Are you two not hungry or something?"

Warren just casually shrugged. "Nah, not really. I had enuff ta eat last night, thanks."

"Yeah, I'm good too," Mary said to me. "But anyway, how's your morning? Oh, and did you happen to have…any dreams last night…?"

What an odd question to ask. Well, I asked that question yesterday too, but today it seemed a little off-topic. I never did have that dream again, or even dream _anything_ as a matter of fact. I shook my head, and asked the same question back to both her and Warren.

Mary shook her head as well, and shrugged. "Not me," she replied softly. "…Well, not _today_ anyway…"

"Eh, nothin' fer me dream-wise. T'was a silent night, and boy howdy am I glad fer that!" Warren said, smirking a bit, and winked at me.

I raised an eyebrow at him, disbelieving.

"…Cum on! Ah'm serious! Only noise I ever heard came frum outside the room, 'round 2 er 3 inda mornin'…"

Suddenly my interest was attained. "Wait…you heard that too?"

He nodded. "'Course I did! Made a heckuva racket, so it woke me right up o' course."

"Then…do you know what it was?"

"Erm, well, I…can't say that I do… But…ah'm purty sure them voices belonged ta Brian an'…someone else."

"Brian? Really…" I put a paw my mouth and thought for a moment. "Do…do you know what they were talking about?"

Warren shrugged. "Heck if I know. Sounded like they were yammerin' 'bout sum kinda discovery or whatnot…"

I sighed. "…That's _all_ you heard?"

"That's it. Sorry that I dunno anymore than that…"

"Don't worry about it, Warren. It's not that big of a deal anyway." _Darn it!_ I was hoping he knew something more about what Brian and some that "other" guy were discussing. Somehow, I thought that their discussion had to be about us—_me_ specifically.

Why do I think that? The man was telling me _just_ the other day of how I had this _"anomaly",_ how that CPT stuff fixed it up, and how it was "exactly the result he'd hoped for". And on top of that, he said he was expecting the full results in another day or two. And _today_ was two days later, so it should be obvious that those results are due.

I continued eating my pizza slice, chatting loosely with both Warren and Mary, until the rest of the group—Steve, Samantha, and Matthew—all came out of the bedroom and joined us at the table. Matt was the only one of those three to have grabbed a piece of food—pizza, like me—and eat it. We greeted each other with a cordial "Good morning," and they sat down.

Matthew obviously had a lot to say, judging by the conversation he started. "So, you all had a good night I'm assuming? Wonderful, wonderful…not that I care about that, but eh… Anyway, is anyone else feeling a bit…_confined? _Having a need to get outside for a spell?"

This struck me as odd. I had never really considered the fact that we were kept indoors all the time, so this came as a bit of a wake-up-call for me. I _guess_ it would be a nice idea for some…fresh air, or something… "I suppose so. Hey, why don't we ask Brian if we could go outside for a bit? It's been pretty nice lately, if the view from the window can be believed."

The Snivy shook his head. "_That's_ where we have problems. Just think about it; we all became Pokémon, right? We look like 'em, walk like 'em, talk like 'em… It's darn near impossible for people to tell us apart from real ones!"

"But," I interjected, tugging at my cap, "we have these to wear. We can just put on some clothing or accessories, that'll distinguish us apart."

"Buzz! Wrong answer. A lot of people dress up their Pokémon with stuff like that. At best it'll point out we're not wild. Even then, without Brian or Frank practically keeping us on a leash, others will think we're strays. Some people might try to steal us! And believe me, I know!"

"Wha… S-steal us? Who'd _do_ that?"

"Criminals, for one," Matthew practically spat, his tone very condescending. "Then there are shifty guys, trappers, poachers, ecetera ecetera you get what I mean. There are countless guys like that in the world, they never stop, y'know?"

I tried to argue against this more but could not, and fell silent. Matthew had a point; there are _lots_ of bad people who'd do anything to make a buck. Who's not to say _we_ may get kidnapped even, if we went to explore outside? The thought chilled me to the bones.

Matthew seemed to wait for a response, but I produced none, so he continued. "The point is, any dreams of frolicking in the fields, roaming far and free, and yadda yadda yadda…_won't_ be happenin' anytime soon." He shook his head and shrugged. "It's just as well, I hate it out there… Too many bad memories…"

Things were quite silent for a while after that, aside from the noise that both me and Matt made while eating the cold pizza. I asked Samantha about her past at one point, since I was curious, but she didn't seem quite willing to tell me just yet. Ah well, it's none of my business anyway…

We chatted with each other loosely about random topics, until I could hear a distinct sound of footsteps in the halls outside. Just as I was wondering what or who it could be, the door to the room slid open with its typical mechanical whir. In comes none other than Brian and Frank, each carrying a stack of papers.

"Ah! You're all awake already! Great, this is pretty important," Brian said rather loudly, which startled me a bit as it caught me off-guard. Unfortunately, that was while I had a piece of food in my mouth.

As can be expected, that same piece of food slipped into the back of my throat, and promptly got stuck. Before I knew it, I was coughing and hacking and couldn't breath at all, and then I instantly realized I was choking. Not some cheap or 'light' choke, but that chunk of food was lodged pretty darn well, and no amount of coughing could relieve it. Now believe me, it was _not_ pleasant. Brian saw what was happening and hurried over to me, and Frank started to do the same while everyone else started freaking out.

I couldn't wait for help though, so I tried slapping my arm across my chest to help knock that blockage loose, but I ended up accidentally hitting the shell that was there in the way. Though it sure as heck hurt, I quickly realized an alternative to my original plan. I took the shell from my stomach with my unhurt paw, and then started bashing _it _against my chest. After a few good hits, I felt something in my throat loosen and I could breathe again. From there, my gag reflex took over, so I ended up…coughing up the pizza chunk onto the table (and needless to say, it made the others turn away with a rather disgusted look, so I used my shell to cover it up. I mean, come on; who _really_ wants to have to look at…that?). Um…yuck.

Brian groaned a little bit in disgust, then shook his head and continued with what he had to say. "So sorry about…_that _happening, but me and Frank have something to tell you all."

I—along with everyone else at the table—looked up at both of the scientists curiously. Somehow, I figured out already what this was about, and what they had to say proved my suspicions true.

"Ahem," Frank said, drawing our attention to him, and I first noticed that he had set up a slide projector in the room, using the light-blue walls as a backdrop for it. Turning on the projector, the old scientist cleared his throat again, and then started to speak. "Now then, if I may explain things from here, Brian?"

Brian nodded. "Go ahead, I'll just comment whenever necessary to make things clear for the kids here."

"Very well. We wish to say we have figured out the issue with the DNA "anomaly" Brian mentioned earlier to you, Maxwell."

I _knew_ it. This is EXACTLY what they were gonna say… Not surprising to me really, since I was forewarned of this occurrence. The others probably had no idea—as they all flashed me a weirded-out look—so this should all be news to them.

"But…before we do, you all should know exactly how the CPT formula _really_ works, so you may understand our findings better. Not that we were lying to you before, please don't think of it that way, we were merely trying to make it as simple a concept as possible for you to understand. But now, things have changed."

Okay, this I _wasn't _expecting. There's more to this CPT stuff? What more could we possibly need to know, all it does is turn people into Pokémon! Isn't that good enough? …Apparently not, since they were here, explaining everything.

"First of all, the CPT—which is an acronym for Complete Physical Transformation—formula is not just a simple chemical complex. It's much more than that. You see, there exists no compound in the world that can change genetic material and molecular structure in a controlled fashion. Sure, some particular chemicals may alter it in some way, but almost always in bad ways—of which I won't go into. Truthfully…the formula is actually a genetically modified prokaryote. A bacteria."

Am I hearing this guy right? They injected me with _germs?_ That made me into _this? _How the crap do you do _that!_ Everyone else seemed to share my shocked expression, and Brian interjected at this point.

"Basically," he explained, "I came up with the concept of changing the composition of bacterial chromosomes by artificial means. The same thing's been done before in medical history, but not for something like this. Reason I chose bacteria over a virus is just because I was too impatient to fiddle with things that small and complex. They _technically_ aren't living either, so viruses won't respond to 'command' prompts that made CPT work. Bacteria on the other hand, are a lot easier to work with. Curious as to _how_ I made it work?"

Ooh, he HAD to pull the curiosity card on us. Of_ course _I was curious, so I quickly cried out in agreement. Everyone else did too, though with a little hesitation.

"Okay then, it was simple really. First, I programmed the bacterium to produce "packets" of stuff called RNA—it's kind of like DNA, but different—and it sends those packets inside little copies of itself. So, a single bacterium can produces hundreds if not thousands of mini-copies, each loaded with RNA and DNA—the DNA of the Pokémon you chose. The tiny copies (I like to call them "missiles," since they're kinda the same concept) each target a cell in your body, and penetrate it via cellular diffusion. Once inside, the missile heads for the cell nucleus and injects both DNA and RNA into it. The RNA tells the cell to produce more of the new DNA and RNA missiles, and then spreads these out into cells around it, passing along the "infection." This process happens extremely rapidly. Once fully incubated, the bacteria infiltrates the nervous center, temporarily 'hijacks' the brain, and sends a special command to every cell, which then begins the actual transformation process in a proscribed fashion. From there, once the change is complete—which usually takes anywhere from a few minutes to an hour at most after it starts—everything settles back down and the bacteria soon either dies or exits the body, since it's no longer needed. Are you with me so far?"

Honestly, I started dozing right around "cellular diffusion." Matthew was completely out, as was Warren, but Samantha, Mary, and Steve listened intently.

"Brian…" Frank interrupted, "Wasn't I the one supposed to be explaining this…?"

"Eh? _Oh! _Of course, sorry about that. Continue."

"Very well then… Now that you have an idea how CPT works, I can explain our findings. You see, we scanned Maxwell's stored human DNA, and found out something unsettling…but still very intriguing." Frank turned to me, put on a 'dead serious' look, and then continued. "Maxwell… Your entire life, you've had a very serious problem. Granted, it only truly manifests in your young adult years, but in the grand scheme of things it wouldn't have been very long at all."

_"…Wh… What is it?"_ I asked, even though I was afraid to. And apparently I was afraid enough to forget that he wouldn't even understand the question regardless…

Frank sighed, and clicked a switch on the projector, showing a slide with some kind of DNA analysis sheet. "We've gotten a positive ID on a rare but very serious genetic disease. CDS, or Chromosome Deficiency Syndrome. It's unique, because the genetic structure of affected persons is naturally unstable. As you age, it grows worse, and serious health effects can develop very early. Diabetes, leprosy, and cancer even…the list goes on. Gradually, the code falls apart bit by bit, until you start to suffer organ failures, and eventual and premature death. Here, is a normal cell…" He clicked the switch again, and a new slide appeared with an ordinary-looking cell (the kind I studied in my Biology class). "…And this…is a cell with advanced CDS." Another click, and a new slide came into view. This cell looked _horrible_… The membrane was jagged, not smooth like the last one, the nucleus looked almost broken up in several pieces, and many of the "organelles" were either missing or disfigured.

My heart stopped. The room became unnaturally silent. Never had I… How could that… I can't believe…

"There would have been little hope for survival, even with intense gene therapy. Curiously enough, there wasn't a peep of anything like this in your medical records… They never bothered to give you a full check-up?"

Did they? I couldn't remember, so I shook my head. Frank sighed heavily and murmured something under his breath.

"Well," Brian cut in, "it _is_ a rare condition… Perhaps it was just oversight?"

"There's no excuse. It is everyone's right to be aware of their own condition - healthy or not," Frank shot back. "Besides, even early-stage CDS isn't _that _hard to detect, any proper physical exam or blood test would've caught early signs of cell degeneration…"

Brian fell silent, and cast a sympathetic glance at me, but then suddenly brightened up. "Now…for some good news! I'll let you handle that, Franky."

"…Yes… Thank you… Ahem, moving on. As I know you are aware, this condition was present in your DNA before CPT…" He showed a slide that was labeled 'Maxwell Cell Sample', and it looked rather unhealthy (the membrane was cragged and the nucleus looked like a broken egg yolk), but not nearly as severe as the example of Advanced CDS showed. "…But completely gone after it was used." Another slide, showing a similar looking cell labeled 'Maxwell Post-CPT Sample' (only tinted blue, since I'm an Oshawott now), but looked totally clean and healthy. "We're not sure exactly how it happened…well, we're still not quite a hundred percent sure…but we do have a theory. It seems quite sensible, almost obvious, so it makes me wonder why we never saw it before…"

"…Is it because we were never trying to find something like that at first?" Brian supposed, almost matter-of-factly.

Frank sighed yet again. "True, true… But you'd think we would notice something like that… Let's move on. Ahem, during the transformation process, the DNA of cells is normally "overwritten," so as to allow certain genetic quirks to survive. It was useful…to a point. But CPT-019 is different. It was more-or-less an experiment, to test a new method of DNA replacement. That "new method" involved not just changing the already-present DNA, but actually _destroying_ that DNA code and replacing it completely with the new Pokémon DNA. Of course, we had to re-work the issue of preserving memories and blocking-out the primal Pokémon nature, which was mostly accomplished by programming an 'exception' if you will into the CPT to allow data within the hippocampus (the memory center) to carry over, with a 95% success rate. It was at that point when we figured out this new process that we were actively pursuing a potential use for CPT itself or components of it to be used for medical research. What we now found is quite intriguing… Using this process removes any genetic impurities completely, such as Maxwell's CDS. An astonishing find, really."

Wow. Just, wow. This was a little too much information, but at least now I partially understand it. I was curious, so I asked, _"Um, how it this stuff supposed to be used for medicine, if all it's really useful for is turning people into Pokémon or whatever?" _The moment I realized what I said, I felt like slapping my forehead. Max, you _idiot,_ way to forget that you can't speak English!

Understandably, Brian or Frank had little to no idea what I was talking about. "Well… I'm not quite sure exactly what that meant, but…" Frank scratched the side of his neck and shrugged. "I'll take a wild guess… Are you worried about what the new process might do?"

Eh, technically I _was_ worried, but…that wasn't what I wanted to ask, so I shook my head for a no.

"Alright, that's good then, I suppose. Nothing to be worried about at all actually… Are you wondering exactly how that CDS of yours was disposed of?"

Again, I was somewhat curious about that, but it wasn't my question. I shook my head.

He attempted about eight times more, which were all wrong, until, "Erm…is it about how the CPT could possibly be medically-useful?"

Yes! _Finally_, he gets it! I hastily nodded, and Frank smiled at having finally hit the nail on the head. "Phew, that's all you wanted to know? Well, we're still thinking it all through, but perhaps someday CPT can be properly synthesized into a cure of some kind. Perhaps the process used in CPT could be re-engineered in a special vaccine, which could erase genetic problems as if they never existed. Until we do that, then we've little other choice but the CPT process itself…"

"And Frank and I really don't want to have to do that unnecessarily," Brian interjected once again, "so that's why Carter's in the R&D area working on that right now. Of course, he's working on a little "extra" something for you guys as well, which is a bit of a priority right now. A priority since it makes communication easier and what-have-you. …Oops, did I give away too many hints?" Brian laughed, which left me a little confused. Something "extra"? Like what? Urgh, what I wouldn't give just to _know_ what was in store for us…

Frank shook his head and smirked. "Maybe you did, maybe you didn't, Brian. Heheh, oh well," he said, and then seemed to realize something, "Oh! Right! Uh, Samantha?"

Samantha suddenly perked up, and let out a tiny "Quil?" in response.

"Just wanted to let you know, about that…'thing' of yours…"

My "sister" seemed to try and remember what Frank was talking about, then suddenly did, and asked, _"What about it?"_ …Of course, this was audible to Brian and Frank as, "Cyndaquil?

"Hm, well… I'll talk with you about it in private. It's no big deal, really."

Samantha, obviously worried for some reason, nodded, then walked out with Frank into the hall, and Brian started to follow. Before the latter could leave though, a thought crossed my mind, and I called out for him.

"Eh?" Brian said, and looked back at me, "What's the matter, Max?"

I made some "Oshawott!" noises while pointing at the slide projector, which Frank set up earlier and was using to show us those slides. I only brought it up, since it seemed like they forgot to take it with them.

"Oh, right! Completely forgot! Eheheh…"

Brian walked back over to the projector, and started loading some new slides into it, removing the old ones. "You see, when we were done with the explanation thing we were going to set this up in here as a form of entertainment for you guys, since the TV's busted and all," he said, still fiddling with the projector. "All we have are some_ 'Eye See' _or '_Spot the Difference' _games, but…at least it's better than nothing, eh?"

At last, the machine started to work, and projected an image of a typical _Eye See_ picture, with the incalculable amount of random items and the little list of ones you need to find. Honestly, I never liked this game, since the multitude of objects to find was more than a little disorienting…but I can adapt…

Seeing his work was done, Brian nodded to himself, and said, "Right then, its working great. I'll leave the controller for the projector here in case any of you need it. See you later guys!" Brian made a small wave of goodbye to us, and then left out the door into the hall.

We were all silent for a minute. I wasn't quite sure whether or not I really wanted to play Eye See, since I sucked_ horribly _at that game…but, whatever.

I looked back at the rest of the group, and noticed for the first time that they were giving me weird stares, as if I grew an extra head or something. Who could blame them? Finally they know that I was sick was a _deadly_ genetic disease for my human life, that was in turn magically fixed by my becoming of a Pokémon. "Um… You guys?" I asked, shifting nervously, "Why… are you all… looking at me… like that?"

None of them responded. Warren's ears were tilted at a strange angle, his eyes transfixed on me. Matthew seemed to avoid looking at me directly; he mostly had his head to the side. Mary seemed to be expressing a rather confusing mixture of bewildered, shocked, and awkward looks. I couldn't see what Steve's eyes was looking at, or his expression, seeing as how they were hidden behind his green…hair? (I'm assuming its hair, but I'm not really sure_ what _it is really.)

"…Come on, I know it must be SO shocking," I said, feeling a bit on the sarcastic side. "But what does it matter now? Let's just…play some 'Eye See' or something, I dunno…"

It didn't surprise me that no one answered again, but at least they quit with their stares. Shaking my head, I turned around towards the projector machine—mounted on a wheeled cart, to ease its transportation—and approached it, searching for the remote Brian left for us. The others seemed to get over the triple-whammy shock of today's reveal, and they diverged across the room to seek their own amusements.

Warren in particular seemed like a _mon_ on a mission (forgive the pun), so I snuck a peek over to see what he was doing. Funnily enough, he seemed to be examining the apparently broken television with interest.

"…Heh._ 'Broken' _he says," I heard Warren say, and I swear I caught a familiar glint in his eye. No sooner was that said, Warren walked behind the television and noises of something being dismantled and sparks could be heard clearly. This may have attracted more than just my attention, as I noticed everyone turn to look at the source of the noise.

I tried not to pay _too_ much attention to Warren's antics, and continued searching for the projector remote. Ugh, would it have killed Brian to leave it in an easy-to-find location? Finally, after a good minute or two of searching, I found it…just out of reach. I was seriously 2 dilatometers from reaching it, and when I jumped a bit to try and knock it down, it slid even _further_ out of my reach. "Aww, fudge! Why must life be so cruel?" I whined, cursing my luck. Even though I tried several different methods - I even used my shell to extend my reach - it was all hopeless. I must've looked pretty silly trying to fruitlessly grab for the remote, since I myself attracted attention. And it was pretty unexpected, too.

"Well, well, well," Matthew said, having just slinked up beside me, "looks like our little otter-boy is having a _bit _of trouble."

I sighed. "Matthew, I know you apparently have a schedule to cause me misery, but can it wait? I'm having a problem, as you can _clearly_ see…"

"Hmm. Well, I was _going _to offer you some help, but if you don't need any then I suppose I'll just be going—"

Say what now? "W-wait! I do need help! Sorry for shaking you off, but I thought you would…you know…"

"Heheheh…" He bemusedly shook his head. "I was kidding! Can't ya take a joke, Max?"

I rolled my eyes. Just like Matthew to joke like that… "Bleh. Okay, can you _please _help me?"

"Mmm, I dunno if I really want to anymore…"

"Aw, come on!"

"…Kidding again! I'll help, if that'll suit you. It's that remote up there, right?" He pointed at the remote up on the cart.

I nodded. "That's the one. It'd be a big help…"

"Eh. Nothing to it." He flashed me a coy smirk. "…Of course, I can't reach up there any better than you can with my arms—if anything it's _worse_—but I _can _do _this_."

Before I could wonder how Matthew could ever reach up that high, a pair of spindly green vines began extending from a little 'crest' around his neck. These vines shot into the air, with expert precision, and wrapped themselves around the remote before lowering it down to my level. "For you, I presume?" he said smugly, obviously proud of this ability.

My mouth hanging open, I involuntarily took the remote from the vines' grip, and they were retracted back to whence they came. "…When did you learn to do _that?"_ I asked, simple dying to know.

"Hmhmhm. If you were watching me yesterday, you would know."

"Huh? But, you were just lying around doing nothing!"

"I prefer to call it, 'discovering oneself.'"

"…Joy. Maybe I should try that sometime." Sarcasm alert.

"You should, it's very enlightening." Matthew flashed me a mischievous look, like he seemed to hiding something. I asked if he could elaborate on details, and he shrugged. "Why not, since we're—airquote—'family' now. It's pretty interesting actually…and simple too… You just sit and think long enough—get in touch with your new self—and it seems like those abilities just…come to you. Heh. All there is to it."

"I never thought of it that way… Sounds pretty cool!"

"You're welcome in advance. Consider yourself lucky, bud, I just gave you _two _little favors. Now _you_ owe me."

"Er…what?"

"You owe _me_ favors now, dude. Don't sweat it, I'll think of _something _for you to do to make up for it." Matthew grinned with a distinct sense of arrogance, and I wearily shook my head in exasperation. This guy…is he for real?

"Hey, ya'll! Check it out! Tele's fixed!" a voice suddenly called out. It was Warren. He stepped out from behind the television set he was working on apparently, and waved to us. To my surprise, the TV was on and fully-operating! "Anyone up fer some good quality entertainin'?"

Matthew was first to respond of course. "About time, I thought I'd bore to death!" he said, and then looked at me and remarked, "Have fun with your 'Eye See,' otter boy. Don't _shell _yourself short." And with that, he took off towards the now-functional television, leaving me alone at the projector. Pretty soon, all the others went to the thing as well.

Apparently it was decided they'd watch cartoons, as the noises and music from those programs were always so loud and flashy. Cartoons never really appealed to me, mainly because I never started watching them in the first place. Television wasn't a necessity at the orphanage, so we hardly ever watched _anything _unless there was some interesting documentary the staff would think we'd learn from. So explaineth how my interest in science and anthropology came to be.

Seeing as how everybody else seemed to be watching the "boob tube" (as I believe the common slang for it is), I set down the projector remote with the intention of joining them, until a sudden voice briefly startled me. "Um, hey…Max. What are you doing?"

"Huh?" I turned around to see who was talking to me, and saw it was Samantha. Silly me, I nearly forgot she was out in the hall talking with Frank until recently. "Oh, it's you… Well, not much…how 'bout you?"

* * *

_**Friday, June 11 - Hallway 15 - PokéGene Inc.  
**__**Subject 002 / Name: Samantha**_

When…Frank told me about that…"thing" I have… It got me feeling really nervous. Days ago, right after I became a Cyndaquil…they…told me that they found something weird about this one part of their test results… That it was something, I dunno…psychological…? I have no idea how that happened, or what the problem was and is, so I felt a little sick to my stomach. Being on four legs and where your head is pretty close to the ground doesn't help that feeling much…

He led me out into the hallway, and we walked down it a bit until he was sure we weren't heard by the other guys. Frank took a deep breath, and then started to explain. "Like we've done with Maxwell's tests, we've been looking at your results as well. What we found is a bit on the…not great side, but totally normal and fairly contained actually."

I looked at him curiously, still having that bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Right about then, Brian came walking out of the room and passed us, so I smiled a bit at him and he smiled back before moving on. I returned my attention to Frank, and he continued his explanation.

"It's psychological you see; a part of the cerebrum that dictates conscious, memories, and instincts. We found out that part is a bit…how should I say…messed up. It _was_ a bit concerning to us at first, but after some extensive testing it turns out it isn't nearly as bad as we thought."

Sighing a little with relief, I made a little "Quil?" noise, hoping to hear a little more.

Frank chuckled a tiny bit, and then frowned. "It isn't bad, but it can _potentially_ be, all's depending."

"Cynda?"

"You see, it ties in with a Fire-type Pokémon's natural power. Since they have a lot of it, it can cause them to act irrationally sometimes; most notably during moments of anger or stress. What we found about you is that you now have the very same trait those Pokémon have, for better or worse. We originally believed that, since it's a psychological aspect, and CPT eliminates those in most cases, then you shouldn't have had that trait to begin with… But like we said earlier, the new process of CPT isn't perfect. There _is_ still a 5% margin for error, and…you might inhabit that little problem area, unfortunately."

…Oh my, that seems…very…umm, I don't know what to think about that…besides knowing that it's bad of course…

"_Fortunately_, it should only really be a problem during periods of stress—like I mentioned before—and being the calm girl we know you are, it shouldn't be a problem at all. But it should still be kept in mind. If it isn't controlled…it's possible you may 'lose yourself' for a bit and behave more aggressively than usual. B-but more likely it'll be a minor thing such as a simple mood swing, which shouldn't last a long time. But in either case you shouldn't worry too much about it at all. I'm merely telling you this to make sure you can be prepared for anything. Forewarned is forearmed! Do you understand what I'm saying?"

I nodded, feeling a bit better. Sure, it's pretty…unsettling to know something like that could happen to me, but at least it _doesn't _seem likely… That's okay, right?

Frank smiled at me, and nodded back. "Great! Glad we understand each other. Well, mostly. Heheheh… Anyway, you can return to the living quarters and see your friends, if you want. See you soon." He walked down the hallway, off to who-know- where, so I walked slowly back to the room while thinking about what Frank said.

If you were ever told that you had some problem with your mind, which would perhaps make you behave like an animal, would _you_ be worried? I sure as guppy am. Sure, Frank said it likely wouldn't happen, but he didn't say it won't! What would I _do_ if that were to happen? …Now I went and scared myself. I got to act right-minded about this…like…forget about it! That's it! I'll push it from my mind, and that'll be the end of it.

It seemed like forever, but I finally reached the door to the…my…_our_ room. The door slid open with its usual whirry noise, but no one seemed to notice me walk in. Warren, Matt, Mary, and Steve were all watching some show on the TV—wait, the television is fixed? …Never mind that. And then I saw Maxwell, standing around that projector thing doing…something. He looked kind of lonely, so I thought it would be a nice idea to go and see what he was doing. "Um, hey…Max. What are you doing?" I asked as I approached.

Maxwell seemed briefly startled, and then caught sight of me. "Huh? Oh, it's you… Well, not much…how 'bout you?"

"Me?" I said, "Nothing at the moment…um… What were you _thinking_ of doing? You're right here next to the projector, standing around, so…"

"…Eh-heh, I was _going _to play some Eye See on the projector—"

"Oh! Really? That's my favorite game!" It actually is. I've always loved playing these, since they present a good mental challenge. Once you play it though, they tend to lose meaning. Specifically, if you play and beat one puzzle, the answers are glued into your mind for a long time. This time was a little different, as the game was on a projector, so that was bound to be something interesting.

He seemed surprised by this (I couldn't really blame him) and began acting a bit conflicted. "It…is? Ooookay, well…um…"

"Is something the matter?"

"N-no! Nothing! It's just that, I was…going to…"

I looked at him wonderingly, curious why he was acting this way.

Maxwell seemed to be contemplating something for a moment, sighed, and then he suddenly smiled. "I was going…to ask you if…you wanted to hold the remote?" He held out the projector remote towards me, grinning.

I giggled. Though I'm pretty sure it isn't what he _really _wanted to say, it was a fair enough response… Hey, I don't know many people who are willing to play mind games with me, so I suppose I'll…have to make do with him. I reached out with my forelegs to take the remote, but fumbled with it and dropped the remote to the floor.

Max quietly chuckled, then suggested, "Maybe we should just leave it on the floor? That way neither of us has to pick it up, and you can just push the buttons easier."

"Sure, that would probably work better," I replied, nodding, and he set the remote in a position in front of us. Looking up at the screen, the picture showed tons of cluttered items strewn about, a typical pattern with these Eye See games. Reading from the list of things to find, I said, "I see a…Pokédollar sign? Can you see it, Max?"

"Uh…. No… no… no… yes! …I mean no… Wait… No… no… Ooh! I see it!"

"Where? I don't see where—oh, there it is!"

"One down. That was kinda tricky… What's next?"

"Uh…it's…a toy train!"

"Hey, I think I saw that already! It's over here… Wait…where was it?"

"Oh, there it is!"

"Aww! I _knew_ where it was, too…"

This went on for the longest while, and neither of us seemed to get bored of it. Wasn't until all the slides were used up that we stopped playing and decided to join the others in watching television. Max and I sat next to each other as we watched, and from what I can tell of his demeanor he really does want to be a good "brother" to me. I can say all too well that he succeeded! I could never provide anything for anyone, but Max, Warren, Matt, Steve, and Mary provide me with friendship and ask for nothing in return (except for Matthew, but he was more-or-less joking…I think). That's so touching…

I think this was the moment where, as we all sat on the rug watching TV like a bunch of regular kids—brothers and sisters—we finally bonded as a family at last. Max's…"condition" seemed lost in everyone's mind already, and that was pretty good. _My_ condition on the other hand… Well, no one knows about it but me, Frank and Brian, and it should probably stay that way. Still…I'm pretty afraid of what could happen…

Feeling scared and nervous, I took a small hold of the silver teardrop-shaped amulet that Maxwell gave me, and held it close to me. The little accessory was all that was needed to help ease my tension, and I smiled. There was something eerily familiar about this amulet… I couldn't put my paw on it though. Regardless, I was grateful for having it with me. Still miss my old amulet though…

I looked over at Max, still watching the TV, and silently thanked him again for giving it to me—even when I had repeatedly turned it down. I could not have been feeling any better than at that moment, and I silently thanked God as well, for bringing us all together. In the end, isn't that what family is all about? Being together?

_Whish!_

At that moment, the door slid open and Brian came rushing in, panting heavily but looking very excited. "Didn't think it would be finished so soon, but…huff…we finished working on that…phew…"extra" bit I was talking about! Carter finished it up just minutes ago… Hoof…"

Huh? What? I spun around on the spot, turning to look at Brian, and so did everyone else. _"What is it?"_ Max asked out loud, (which came out as "Osha?") and Brian spent a moment to catch his breath before continuing.

"The new plug-in…for the formula! It's finished!"

* * *

**A/N: UPDATED: So yeah, there you have it. To any old readers, hope you might like the small little polishes I done this chapter. To new readers, I hope you're enjoying the story as a whole so far! As for what was changed…eh, not much really. (Though, I would like to point out to prior readers that I renamed the original 'I See', to '_Eye_ See'. It's a much less subtle pun, plus it's slightly more distinct than the 'I Spy' it was ripped off of—I MEAN BORROWED from.) But all aside, I hope this chapter was fairly decent. :P**

**Review where it's due, osha! Until next update, fare thee well!**

**-TheAuthorGl1m0**


	8. Freedom Of Speech

**A/N: MOAR UPDATE: So yeah, yet another update to fix grammar/spelling issues. It's not necessarily a complete rewrite though; I'm just fixing a few silly mistakes and reworded some passages so that it seems…better. :P**

**Without further ado, read and review…**

* * *

_**Friday, June 11 - Living Quarters SUB - PokéGene Inc.  
**__**Subject 001 / Name: Warren**_

"The new plug-in…for the formula! It's finished!"

"Osha?" "Sni?" "Cynda?" "Pip?" "Ral?" "Pika?"

"That's right; we've been working on a little something for you guys for the longest while! Took_ forever_, but it's finally completed! Carter really outdid himself!"

Okay, Brian jus' cums bustin' in here an' then starts shoutin' and gaspin' about WHAT now? I swear ta… What's up now? Don't get me wrong, it's great that Brian has somefin' good goin' fer him, but whut could this all possibly be 'bout?

Max seemed jus' as surprised as the rest of us did, but fer sum reason he seemed like he knew somefin'. He looked at me and quietly asked, "Hey Warren? Buddy? Are you aware what this is about?"

I shook my head, and then asked back, "Well, do _you?_"

"I might have an idea, but I'm not _exactly_ sure… I think it's pretty important though."

"Oh joy…"

Brian kept up with his little speech, "You all seem a little confused. Hmm, I suppose you would be… Anyway, I'm assuming you would want to know what this is all about."

Me and the others nodded, 'cause hey, of COURSE we wanted ta know.

"Yes, of course. Shouldn't have thought otherwise. Ahem, now then… I was going to keep this a surprise, but I'll be very direct. Allow me to bring out this syringe…" Brian pulled a tiny needle out of his pocket, fill'd with sum liquid stuff, and I noticed Max take a step back, lookin' a tad pale (paler than usual anyway). "Oh? Oh! S-sorry Maxwell, I forgot that you have a fear of needles… But as I was saying, we have figured out a "loophole" to something that CPT itself could not achieve. Let me ask you all: It's annoying that you can't speak to us like a person can, right?"

I nodded, as well as everyone else did. Y'all might've noticed how hard it is fer us ta talk with Brian, Frank an' the others, since we're…I dunno…_unable to speak English? _If ya haven't, then ya obviously weren't payin' attention. Cum on, it shud be obvious.

"Well, we've found a way around that. Can I ask for one of you to volunteer?"

None o' us moved. Max actually backed away sum more. Figures. But hey, I can relate. No one seemed to be willin' to step forward, so I did. May as well git this show onda road, right? But, 'magine my shock when Max pushed in front o' me.

_"I'll do it, I'll do it…" _he said, lookin' paler still. _"Just get it over with…"_

Brian looked purty surprised too. "Max? _You're_ going to volunteer?"

My 'brother' nodded, seeming to grow whiter by the minute—even though his head was purty white ta begin with.

"Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise! It's great to see you finally stepping up to plate on you own! Good for you!"

_"Eh-heh… Yeah…"_ Max obviously wasn't comfortable, but hey. If he's so scared o' the needle, then it really makes me wunder why he would try to be courageous… Boy's got guts, ah'll give him that…

* * *

_**Friday, June 11 - Living Quarters SUB - PokéGene Inc.  
**__**Subject 006 / Name: Maxwell**_

Ugh… What was I _thinking? _I just willingly volunteered to be part of another experiment? Oye vey…

To be honest, I liked the idea of being the first to do something, but the first to do something completely untested is a bit…out of my league. Should I really go through with this? Or shouldn't I? Egh…it wouldn't matter either way, since by then Brian was already coaxing me forward.

Hesitating, I slowly waddled up to him. I'm sure he could see the fear in my eyes, since he tried to reassure me. "There there, this'll be easier than the CPT process. _Much_ easier. Besides, the needle is nowhere near as big!"

That wasn't all that reassuring when he mentioned the needle size. Sure, it was only the LENGTH OF MY (short) ARM, but he didn't seem to think it was a big deal.

"In any case," he continued, "it's much less involved than CPT. It's merely a slight "tweak" if you will. I'll explain in a minute, but first I should give you the shot, seeing as it takes a few minutes to take effect."

No way would I willingly put out my arm for a needle, but in this case I had little choice, so it's what I did.

"Okay, it'll be nice and quick," he said. I closed my eyes tightly, hoping it would be over quick. "And…there!" I opened my eyes again. It was over? THAT quick? I looked up at Brian, who was discarding the empty syringe. "There," he said cheerfully, "easy as that!"

Whaaa…? Not even a prick? A poke? ANYTHING? Apparently not… I didn't feel anything the entire time. But when I looked at my arm, there _was _a little spot where I may have got the shot. I touched it, and it didn't hurt. A little tender perhaps, but nothing painful as I always likened it to be. I turned back to the others, and they informed me I actually _did_ get the shot. Wow.

"Hm, didn't I say it was easy?" Brian said, smirking. "Doesn't hurt, right? Pokémon have a tendency to absorb more pain than humans. It's why they always battle! Heheh…"

Ah, so that's why. Convenient! Yet another reason to add to my list of _"Reasons I Love Being a Pokémon."_ I'm at twelve already.

…Wait, did he say _battle_?

"So, as I was saying—"

Right as he began, a sudden tingly and scratchy sensation began in my throat, making me cry out—mostly from surprise, not from the actual feeling.

"Oh! Well, that was quicker than I thought. Taking effect already! Max, I just have to ask that you try not to speak or anything like that for now, okay? While the sensation is taking place specifically. Just to be safe."

I had no idea why he was even asking that, since I couldn't say anything anyway. My throat felt like it was being strained in such a way that I couldn't even rasp. Thank goodness I could still breathe, but it was a little tricky. I nodded, holding my neck with my paws to help stem the tingling (it didn't really help, though). My head also began to throb a bit for some reason.

"Great…I suppose. Heh. Anyway, the plug-in is simply referred to as the Vocal Chord Alteration Compound, or VCAC. It works in a similar fashion to CPT—it's a specially programmed bacterium—only it directly targets the vocal chords and brain, mostly. Through a complex, and quite hard-to-explain process, it can force the vocal chords, better known as the voice box, to interpret language into a recognizable context. Before, your Pokémon brains could only take your intended English, and make it into the language of Pokémon—PokéSpeak it's commonly known as—before sending that message to the voice box to produce those words. But now, the context is completely unaltered. Your brains are then capable of producing the message you've always intended to say: English. You have NO idea how hard it was to make this process work… We've been trying ever since CPT-008…"

His explanation carried on for quite a bit, and while it did that tingling, scratching feeling in my throat and slight throbbing in my head persisted. It was a tad uncomfortable, but thank goodness it eventually passed. When it finally did, I didn't feel much different than normal. Sure, my throat was a little dry, but nothing much else.

Brian gazed at me expectantly. "Well, Max? Is the sensation over?" he asked, obviously full of tension and excitement. I guess now we'll see if his experiment was a success.

I took a deep breath, and then released it, trying to relax myself. Finally, I answered, "…Y-Yes… It is…" And guess what sound I _didn't_ hear? That's right; the Oshawott cries no longer came forth. I said it plainly and clearly.

Talk about your awkward silences. The rest of my brothers and sisters had the bottom of their jaws on the floor…metaphorically, anyway. They weren't actually on the floor but—oh, you know what I mean! Anyway, I was pretty shocked myself, so I had to ask, "D-did I _say_ that just now?" Once again, the good ol' English language spouted from my mouth. (Okay, NOW their jaws were on the floor.)

Brian in particular seemed most excited. He apparently expected this to happen, so it's not like he was shocked, but he looked like he just won the lottery or something. "It worked! Amazing! To be honest, I was actually a little bit doubtful it would work…but no matter! This is excellent!"

I gazed up at him with a confused look on my face. I can…_talk_ now? For real?

"Simply amazing! I can't even _begin _to express how great this is! Finally…all that effort paid off at last!"

"Uhh…" Well, apparently _now_ I'm capable of speaking again! Only problem is (rather ironically), I was at a loss for words. Brian's explanation—which clearly stated that this stuff would restore our speech ability—never could've prepared me, or anyone else, for what the expected result was. "I'm…talking? Actually talking?"

"Your mouth is moving, and words are coming out, so yes!" Brian pointed out, adjusting his glasses. "And as a plus, you should still be able to communicate in PokéSpeak just as easily as English, too! In short, you can still talk to Pokémon!"

"…Really now? Huh…" I turned back to my adopted siblings and forced a smile (it must've looked kinda bad though). "…So, um…guys? You…understand me, maybe?"

No response from any of them. But of course, how silly of me… They were in too much shock to really say anything. A whole minute passed before Brian cleared his throat to break the silence. "What's up? None of you want to say anything?"

At this, they began to shift uncomfortably, obviously under pressure to say something. Finally, Warren decided to speak up at last. What I heard him say surprised me a little bit. "Pi, pikachu chu? Pika pi?" I'd gotten so used to hearing that being said so often, that I'd always recognize it as what I thought was English. But now, it's as if I'm just hearing that Poké-babble, only I know what it means. He had asked me, _"Well, can ya understand _me_ still? Maxwell?"_

"Of course I can," I replied. "It sounds a bit 'odd' to me…but yeah, I can. Oogh…" Wow, that stuff really stirred my brain up, since I still had a slight headache from the after-effects. But never mind that…

"Pika! Chu chu!" Warren said, obviously shocked about my newly re-acquired (but painfully familiar and unspectacular) ability. I understood what he said as, _"Hot dang! That's really amazin'!"_

The others began to share Warren's disbelief. _"Well, it looks like Brian the super-scientist does it again!"_ Matthew said in a half-witted tone, and then snickered. Mary gave him a quick jab in the stomach to quiet him down and snapped, _"Enough with the sarcasm! This is really important stuff!"_ The Snivy didn't give a real rebuttal to this; he just shrugged it off and gently laughed to himself again.

Warren turned towards Brian and started slamming him with questions—obviously unaware the latter couldn't understand him. "Umm… Warren?" Brian said, interrupting the Pikachu. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but…can you allow me a moment to explain the VCAC, if you don't mind?"

Everyone, including Warren and myself, quieted down at once and began to listen intently.

"Thank you. Now, as you can clearly tell, the VCAC can, simply put, restore your ability to speak the English language, in addition to retaining the ability to understand PokéSpeak. We knew from the first tests that CPT renders a human unable to speak English after the transfer from human-to-Pokémon form, with rare exceptions, so we've been trying to implement a method of keeping that intact. It has proved incompatible with CPT, as you know, since it would interfere with the process if both CPT and VCAC were active at the same time. Of course, we recently found that we were looking at it the wrong way. How so, you may ask? Easy! All we had to do was _keep both processes separate._ Once we found that out, it was a mere matter of time before we made the VCAC plug-in. Are you all with me?"

UGH! What is _with _Brian and his ridiculously lengthy explanations? "Yeah, I get it." That was kind-of a lie, but I did hear enough parts of the explanation/rant to somewhat understand. "I do have a question though… You said something about 'rare exceptions'…?" The others made cries of agreement, since I assumed they were also curious about that part.

Brian raised an eyebrow at me, and smiled mischievously. "Glad you asked. Subject eight _just_ came back from his family leave. He too was once in your position, only he actively volunteered; he came to _us_, so to say. The point is, he is here and is simply dying to meet you all."

"Are…you saying that…?"

"Yep. It was the luck of the draw really, but you would've met each other at some point anyway. Besides, it's nice to demonstrate living proof of my point! Oh, did I mention he's the _first_ person to ever—in recent, non-mythological memory at least—become a Pokémon? Well, not including the Pokéhybrids back in the HYBR days, but that's a story for later."

Holy Miltank, is Brian serious? The first guy is still around? And he's here? Ready to meet _us?_ (And what's that about 'Pokéhybrids'? Come to think of it, the man brought it up when I first met him…) Okay, now I started to get really nervous. Dozens of thought began running laps around my mind. What will I say? What kind of guy is he? Is he friendly? What kind of Pokémon did he become? Am I wearing my shell on straight? What about my hat?

Brian chuckled, which made me feel slightly less tense, and bent down to give me a pat on the head. "Don't worry, he doesn't bite. I'm serious you know, he's well-mannered and very friendly, so don't get yourself worked up." He looked back at the others. "You all too, okay? And remember to be on your best behavior—especially _you_, Matthew!"

Is it just me, or is Brian starting to sound like a parent?

"He's out in the hall actually; we better not keep him waiting… Come on in, Mark!"

* * *

_**Friday, June 11 - Brian's Office - PokéGene Inc. **_

Danny sat lazily in his dad's chair. To him, being left in charge of keeping his dad's office tidy was an everyday thing, but it was the most boring thing he could imagine doing. The only interesting thing he could do was sit in the chair, and spin it in circle until he either got dizzy or bored. Sure, it's a childish and unconventional way to pass the time, but he didn't care.

At last, the young intern started to grow weary, and felt like nodding off for a bit. So, he did. But right as he went to put his feet up onto the table to relax, he accidentally knocked over a stack of papers onto the floor.

Cursing his luck, Danny stood up and went to gather all the documents, knowing full well that he had to; otherwise his father would give him heck. But while gathering up and rearranging the papers, his eyes caught something interesting: A few pages stapled together, arranged into a report. The title of the report was _"HYBR-1A to HYBR-2B Statuses."_

At once, his interest was piqued. Danny remembered his dad talking about how the previous experiments before CPT came to be, which were referred to as the "HYBR Trials." Brian never told him though, about the exact details; aside from it being discontinued and noted as a "failure."

_"We should never have tried," _Brian once said to Danny. _"But in hindsight, CPT would not have been possible without those poor souls…"_

Wondering if the documents would contain anything interesting to read (if anything it could help kill some time), Danny set the other papers at the desk, sat down, and began reading through the report, dated almost 6 years ago (and judging from the faded text it certainly seemed that old). The first page was simply a title page, so he flipped to the next one and began to read to himself.

_"HYBR Formula Summary: The Harmonized Yoctocellular Bi-Rearrangement Formula, better known as HYBR, is a molecular compound utilizing 'programmed bacteria' to alter the code of DNA to acquire traits of two different genomes. For example, a Pokémon and human genome combined."_

"_(Oh, so this is probably what dad had cooking before this CPT stuff,)"_ Danny thought. _"(…__But, what I don't get is…why?)"_ He continued reading.

_"HYBR functions by taking the two DNA strands within each cell and merging them together in various ways. As a downside, the genetic alterations tend to be a bit arbitrary and imprecise; a trait that future formulas will need to amend. Even if two subjects with the same DNA (identical twins are an example) were given the exact same formula (coupled with a Ratatta gene, for example), they would most likely develop different traits. One could acquire only the fur and tail, while the other may get the ears and teeth. Such is the unpredictable nature of HYBR."_

As he read, Danny could sense how everything was starting to fit together. HYBR apparently failed, and the idea of CPT succeeded it. Reason for that occurring seemed to be for the sake of efficiency. The page continued on with more complicated terms and biology nonsense that made little sense to Danny, so he skipped ahead to the page titled "Subject Details," and began reading.

_"Subject HYBR-1A_

_Real Name: Bria Omay_

_Sex: Female_

_Age: 12_

_Formula Batch: 102-32_

_Personal Details: Bria is a strong-willed girl, admitted to the experiment at a rather young 12 years old. She was orphaned at a young age, and adopted by us at the orphanage outside Genta City. We asked if she would be willing to enter the HYBR program, and the girl hastily accepted. Smart, kind, and friendly. Instantly likeable._

_Experiment Details: After some discussion, the agreed on DNA candidate is that of a Pikachu. Procedure is amazingly successful. Fur, ears, tail, and even electrical pouches develop within days with minimum discomfort. Even more so, she is capable of using basic moves like Thundershock. As of yet we are unsure of any psychological traits beneath appearances, but we remain optimistic of future successes._

_Comments: A very cooperative girl indeed! I remain hopeful for things to keep going well for the HYBR Trials. Also, I find it rather odd that her name mirrors her subject code: HY**BR-1A = Bria.** Weird, huh?_

_State: Alive / Full Health."_

The young man scratched his head with confusion. According to the report (he couldn't help but snicker at his father's comments; that was so like him) the first test was totally successful! How could it have failed? He read the next subject's details.

_"Subject HYBR-1B_

_Real Name: Jack Umber_

_Sex: Male_

_Age: 13_

_Formula Batch: 127-16_

_Personal Details: A fairly calm, but somewhat odd boy. He never really talks a lot, but shows caring whenever appropriate. Found living on the street, and offered chance to be part of experiment. Though slightly hesitant, he accepted. Has a pretty good sense of humor (but is noted to be a little mischievous)._

_Experiment Details: In attempt to test merging with Pokémon with more extreme properties, Torchic DNA is chosen as the DNA candidate. Unfortunately, the internal flame sacs—which can cause stored temperatures at almost 1000 degrees—develop before the body can fully build up a tolerance, resulting in severe tissue damage. Subsequent operations repair most of this, however the pain may continue for weeks until fully healed. Unusually, but not unexpectedly, the flame sacs are the only trait to be developed aside from a light coating of feathers on the torso._

_Comments: Not the best result we've had, but I owe that to the HYBR's unpredictability. I'm not happy about poor Jack getting hurt, but I'll deem this a partial success anyway. Hopefully the future carries better fortune for us, and the kids. _

_State: Alive / Moderate Health."_

Danny started to realize the problem with the HYBR. As was mentioned on the first page, the results were simply too random, which had caused the subject named "Jack" to get hurt from the unbalanced changes. He read the entries from 1D and 2A (whose names were Jenny and Douglas, respectively), both of which were successful for the most part. 1C and 2B were different stories…

"Oh my god…" Danny's mouth dropped open as he read both of these entries.

_"Subject HYBR-1C_

_Real Name: Wilson (no last name)_

_Sex: Male_

_Age: 16_

_Formula Batch: 134-22_

_Personal Details: Wilson was a distant, quiet kid. He never got along with many people, and had run away from home. Apparently, he tried to commit suicide on several occasions. Picked up from an orphanage, shortly after his latest attempt. Our oldest subject._

_Experiment Details: He acted uncaring of what Pokémon DNA to splice with, so we decided for him: a Starly, to test effects of bird-like DNA on humans. Feathers and wings (though somewhat small) develop, as expected, but his mind seems to decay even more. Whether it was because of his natural, suicidal tendencies, or simply because he lost his mind, Wilson…jumped out a top floor window. He is currently buried in the facility's garden. Experiment is judged a total failure._

_Comments: I am personally ashamed of this tragedy. Although I should have expected it, nothing could have prepared me for this kind of shock. Though Frank has assured me that it was done on his own suicidal mind, and not because of HYBR, I can't help but feel responsible. I'm starting to wonder if all of this is even worth it… (This is clearly no place for jokes, but I can't help but note the irony… HYBR-1C = HY BRIC = High brick. That would properly describe his flying ability in any case…)_

_State: Deceased_

_Subject HYBR-2B_

_Real Name: (None)_

_Sex: Male_

_Age: 8_

_Formula Batch: 112-43_

_Personal Details: Very little was known about this boy. He appeared on our doorstop, severely injured and begging for food. He said he had no name. We took him in, nursed him back to health, and gave him a home. Though he was still very young, we introduced him to Bria and the others and told him about the HYBR. He seemed eager, and begged to be entered into the experiment. Though we had issues regarding his age, the successes of 1D and 2A were inspiring. So we proceeded. _

_Experiment Details: Once again, we strayed from the typical DNA patterns. DNA from the artificial Pokémon Porygon was used as the candidate, as requested by the boy himself. Though we certainly expected issues, things got bad fast. Soon after receiving the formula, his vitals dropped sharply. Before we could realize what the problem was, it was too late. He flatlined. Yet somehow, his molecular structure was able to deresolute and simply vanish, though there is little hope of ever finding him. _

_Comments: HYBR is finished. This is the last straw. It was bad enough when Wilson…passed, but in this case it was the formula's fault that… I can hardly express my regret properly. We were idiots for trying artificial DNA anyway… There must be a better method of doing things…_

_State: Missing (most likely deceased)."_

Danny dropped the report onto the table. He didn't want to read anymore. What had happened in the past… He understood every bit of it. Why HYBR failed. Why Brian would always act shameful whenever the subject of HYBR was brought up. But one thing lingered on Danny's mind: If some of those Pokéhybrids apparently lived…then…where are they now?

"So, curiosity got the better of you? Heh, I'd be curious myself."

Danny almost jumped right out of the chair. "F-Frank! I…"

The old scientist walked into the office, apparently to check on him, but was somewhat surprised to see him with the documents relating to HYBR laid out. "…Hmm." Frank walked up to the desk that Danny was at, and glanced down at the papers. "You've been studying, I see." He chuckled. "Odd, I never thought of you _actually_ studying."

"Errr… Um…"

"Well, who am I to judge? This is interesting stuff after all. Rather…unpleasant stuff, but interesting nevertheless."

"I… I wasn't—!"

The old scientist sighed. "Come on, Danny. It's not like you're forbidden to see that. You would've found out eventually." Frank picked up the report, and thumbed through it. "…I miss those kids. They were really great."

Danny couldn't help but imagine an unpleasant image of their fate, and gulped. "W-what happened to them?"

The scientist sighed and shook his head. "That's just it. I have no idea. None of us do. One day, they just…vanished. Without a trace. This was just after word got out about this whole undertaking. Maybe the kids were afraid of attention, and ran away? Perhaps they feared what would happen to them if everyone were to learn of those experiments? Anyone's guess."

"Oh, that's too bad… What happened after that?"

"Eh, the government almost shut us down when they saw our records… They confiscated most of them—though we stashed some documents away, like this report here—and they would've taken the kids away had they not disappeared. Must be why they ran away… Oddly enough, the government tried to kill any rumors about the whole thing; the old-fashioned "deny everything" approach. Things settled down from that point on. PokéGene only stayed active because we were 'officially' working on a miracle cure. Back then, it wasn't really true, but it is now."

"'Wasn't really true'? Then what _were_ you looking for?"

"…Nothing, really. It was all part of this fantasy your father had since he was a kid. He wanted to understand Pokémon better, in more ways than one, so it all led up to this. HYBR was the start, and then CPT came along, and well…here we are."

"Not to be rude, but that doesn't seem like much of a reason…"

"I suppose, in realistic terms, no. But, people can do weird things in the right - or wrong - state of mind. At least THIS weird thing has led to an actual miracle… Well, all aside, have you met Mark yet?"

"Who? …Oh, that guy who was the first to be a Pokémon and stuff?"

Frank smiled. "The very same. He came back to pay us a visit."

* * *

_**Friday, June 11 - Living Quarters SUB - PokéGene Inc.  
**__**Subject 006 / Name: Maxwell**_

"Come on in, Mark!"

Right as Brian called for whoever was outside the door, I heard the door open again. Everyone (myself included of course) immediately turned towards the door. A tall Pokémon by our comparison (roughly four feet) walked in, and I tried to recognize the species. He bore a resemblance to a jackal, with dark-blue and black fur covering most of his body, but with dull-yellow fur on his torso. A large metal spike dead center on his chest (along with similar spikes on the backs of his paws) confirmed his identity. "He's a…Lucario?"

The Lucario named Mark scanned the room with his red-irised eyes, then caught sight of us and Brian and smiled. "Hello. My name's Mark. You six must be the kids that Brian told me about," he said in a deep, but gentle and calm voice. "I've really been looking forward to meeting you at last."

"Uh… H-hi…? I'm M-Maxwell, but you can call me Max…" I'm not sure why I introduced myself first. I sorta did it involuntarily, but Mark seemed happy to meet me.

"Oh, well, nice to meet you 'Max'," Mark said, smiling, and bent down to shake my paw. He wasn't as tall or as big as Brian or Frank, but he was still a fair size larger than me. I returned the pawshake, but he somehow seemed to sense my nervousness. "…Heh, you're nervous, aren't you? Don't be, I won't bite! And another thing, you might want to stop dwelling on your personal issues. They seriously hold you back unless you just forget about them and move on."

Oh, great. Now there are TWO mind-readers in this joint. God help me.

The Lucario chuckled. "Your Aura is simply _dripping_ with sarcasm right now. No, I'm not reading your mind; I'm just sensing your Aura. All Lucario can do it. They are also capable of understanding and speaking English. Well, I suppose that's a bonus, huh? Heheheh…"

"That's…great…" A thought suddenly occurred to me, and I turned to Brian. "Hey, wait a minute… Didn't you say that the CPT stuff can't make people into Pokémon higher than base evolutions or whatever? Then how come Mark is a Lucario? Aren't they…you know?"

Brian seemed to be expecting that. "I did. He never directly became a Lucario, only its pre-evolved form, Riolu. But as you can plainly see, he's evolved since then. Yes, you heard me right."

Hold up… Mark… EVOLVED? "Then does that mean…we can evolve too?" I actually enjoyed the prospect of being at least a foot or so taller.

"Most likely, since the nature of CPT-019 makes your genes perfectly identical to a real Pokémon, so I don't see why it can't be possible. Granted, most Pokémon evolve by battling and leveling up, so if you really want to go that direction…"

…On second thought, I'd like to _not_ have my body damaged in any way, shape or form. "Uhh… It's not so bad being small and cute!" And no, I'm not being a chicken! Though one may wonder…

"Heh, if you're sure… So Mark," Brian continued, "Why don't you meet the others? They haven't been given the VCAC yet, but you can still talk to them, right?"

"Of course I can! I wouldn't deserve to be called a Pokémon if I can't even talk with one, after all." Mark walked past me and stood in front of my siblings, beaming. "A pleasure to meet you all. I'm Mark, as you know already. How's Pokélife treating you?"

_"Uhh… Fine, I guess," _Warren replied in PokéSpeak. _"Beats mah human life in any case. …Oh, mah name's Warren by the by. Humbl'd ta meet ya, Mark." _The two shook paws, and Warren found the courage to smile sincerely.

"Hmhm, I am too. Odd, you sure remind me of my brother…"

_"Brother?"_

"Oh, Brian never told you all? I actually _do_ have a family. …Well, I have siblings, and grandparents, but no real parents. I was out on my own for a while, until I happened upon this place. To be honest, I never knew what was in store for me! But I don't regret my decision. My sister likes to pretend I'm a dog sometimes though…"

_"Oh, I see… Unlike us, ya actually _have_ a family ta worry 'bout… So…was it hard?"_

"…Hmm, I don't often dwell on that… It wasn't an easy choice, no, but whatever family I had left was accepting of it."

"We also had to swear them to secrecy," Brian interjected, clearing his throat.

Suddenly, a memory flashed through my mind: my cousin, Wendel. I had _completely_ forgotten about him! "Uhh, excuse me, guys?"

They all turned to look at me, and I continued. "I actually have a family member too! Well, just a cousin actually…but still!"

Brian seemed briefly confused, and then a look of realization suddenly appeared on his face. "Oh, that's right! You said you did right when we first met I believe… But silly me, I never took proper note of it…" He trailed off, apparently thinking this through.

"Well… It's just that I normally write to him, so…if I never do, he might get really worried about me."

"…That _is_ a situation… I suppose we can…" He trailed off again, only now he managed to think of something. "Oh! Well, why don't you just write a letter explaining the situation? I can help with that if you need it!"

Hey, no complaints here! Any excuse to "talk" (at least, via letter) with my cousin again sounds good enough to me. "Sure! …Uh, where's a pen and paper?"

* * *

_**Friday, June 11 - Living Quarters SUB - PokéGene Inc.  
**__**Subject 003 / Name: Steve**_

"Great then," Brian said. "As for paper, there's plenty of _that_ in my office. Let's go!"

So, both Maxwell and Brian waved goodbye to us and left the room to do that letter thing, leaving me, Warren, Sam, Mary, and Matt with the Lucario named Mark.

The moment I saw that guy, I could just _feel_ the power that was emanating from him. It would've been impossible to tell that he was once human. His mental power was also rather powerful, as it shrugged off my attempts to get a decent read on it. And that, my friends, proves that my sibling's minds are weak-willed. Heh, more fun for me.

After he was done exchanging pleasantries with Warren, Mark got acquainted with Samantha, Mary, and Matthew (in that order) before at last coming up to me.

"…So, a Ralts, huh? Your name is?"

"Steve," I replied, "just…Steve. Please don't call me Steven."

He nodded. "Duly noted. I'm Mark, pleased to meet you."

"Likewise, sir."

"'Sir'? Heheh, I _suppose_ you can call me that…even though we're _technically_ brothers."

"Somehow I expected you to mention that. It's because Brian "adopted" you in a sense, is that correct?"

"Well now, polite _and_ intelligent. That's right; I was technically alone in the world, since I never wanted to live with gramps, so when I found Brian at this building he offered to take me in. He's a really nice guy…"

"I agree. He truly does care about us. Though he might have a tendency to act a bit overexcited about his research…"

"I know _that_ for a fact, Steve. Anyway, it's nice to meet you at last."

"Same here Mark. I have to ask though…what are you going to be doing from now on?"

"Well, I'm just planning on visiting for a while. I'm not sure, maybe a week or two at least, a month at most. In any case, you guys should get used to me, because I'll be hanging around for a bit."

"Hm…"

The others seemed happy about Mark, and his plan to stay for a while. But for some reason I couldn't shake off an uncomfortable feeling about him… It might just be my psychic-type nature responding to his fighting-type, which is what my type is good against. It didn't seem like a simple feeling of rivalry though…it was like…I can't really describe how I was feeling… You know that sense of dread when you're walking down a dark street with no one else around? It was like that.

Why I felt that way is beyond me, but it doesn't seem to be Mark's fault… It's like…he's carrying some kind of ill fortune on him…

And that's when I saw it. For an ever-so-brief moment: a sight of peril. I couldn't make it out very well, but I could remember seeing a small figure, trying to defend another equal-sized figure from a much, much larger one. It looked like David versus Goliath to me, only in a slightly detailed context. For example, the "Goliath" held a long tool that looked like a shaft with a hoop on the end, and the two "Davids" were on the defensive. One was cowering in fear; the other was defending its companion with some kind of weapon.

But what did it mean? I had no idea. I _did_ realize that Mark had nothing to do with the image I saw. In fact, my mind told me that it had something to do with an ill fortune that was, is, or will follow him at some point in time. Whether the image I saw was present or past I could not tell.

But…is it possible that I saw…the future…? …No, impossible. I may have been taught by one of the greatest clairvoyants I ever knew (she predicted her own death, remember?) but I admit that I couldn't have ever learned all of her skills. I may know a thing or two, but seeing events to come is beyond my level of expertise.

"…_Steve…Steve…Steve!"_

I heard voices that seemed to come from nowhere. At once, I broke free from a trance that I was unaware I was in, and realized I had fell backwards on the floor. Warren and Mark were standing over me, trying to get me to respond to them somehow. "Wake up, Steve!" Warren almost yelled in my ear. "Cum on, git offa the floor! Ya hafta!"

"Nrgh…" Slowly, I got to my feet and rubbed my head. It was quite sore all of a sudden. "What happened…?" I groaned, unsure why I had fallen.

Mark shrugged. "I'm not really sure, but before you fell I sensed an odd spike in your Aura energy, and you just seemed to slip into some kind of trance… What did you see?"

Once I had regained my balance, I recounted the description of my vision. The two small Davids, the Goliath that stood before them… Of course, I left out my suspicion of Mark of course, but I did explain what I believed it meant. Even so, I was quick to discredit the whole thing, telling them that I didn't believe that it was a future sight or anything.

"You never know," Mary said, looked somewhat distressed. I couldn't blame her, or anyone else for that matter.

Matthew looked at me with a rather blank stare. "Well well, little mister Psycho-Steve has a vision of some sorta fight going on," he said, rolling his eyes. "Heh, I can see where _this_ is going…" Now it was Warren who gave him a quick shut-up jab and hissed _"Quiet, you!"_ in the Snivy's ear.

"All aside, this is pretty concerning…" Mark stared into my eyes, apparently looked for any signs of dishonesty, but I displayed none so he shrugged off the thought and seemed content with my explanation. "I need to have a talk with Brian for a bit. I'll explain this to him as well, just to be safe."

Personally, I didn't think it was a big enough deal to need to tell Brian or Frank about it, but I didn't object and silently nodded. The Lucario gave us a quick wave goodbye and tiny smile before he left out the door, and the five of us were alone.

"…This is a tad awkward…"

* * *

_**Friday, June 11 - Brian's Office - PokéGene Inc.  
**__**Subject 006 / Name: Maxwell**_

Brian led me down a few hallways, and after a short while we came up to the door to his office. It wasn't an automatic sliding door like the one to my room, but that's only because it's most likely supposed to be private. "Welcome to my 'inner sanctum', Max," he told me, and opened the door to allow me first entry.

Upon walking inside, I saw that the room was already occupied! Both Danny and Frank were in here, apparently having some kind of discussion about something. They stopped talking the moment me and Brian stepped into the room, and greeted us.

"Hey Brian, Maxwell," Frank said as we entered. "What brings you here?"

"For starters this is _my_ office Frank," Brian pointed out, chuckling, "so I should be asking _you_ that! I know I left Danny in charge of keeping things tidy, so—" He noticed the mess of papers on his desk, and Danny shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "And…this is?"

Frank whispered something into Brian's ear, and thusly I couldn't hear what was being said. Neither could Danny apparently. At once, Brian seemed to understand whatever Frank was trying to explain to him. "…I see. Well, no matter." He shrugged off whatever thought was on his mind and then turned back to me. "So, where were we?"

While Brian gathered together the paper and utensils needed to write the letter, Frank and Danny were quick to vacate the premises. Something about Danny seemed a little "off" though… When I saw him pass me by I noticed a guilty look on his face.

Brian put me up onto his desk, where I was to attempt to write that letter myself (though I had little faith in that expectation) and when he turned his back for a few moments I couldn't help but sneak a peek at the documents spread out onto the table.

I had very little time to read, but I was able to make out a few distinct pieces of information: A series of experiments dating back six years; the word "Pokéhybrids" being written down numerous times; genetic research and stuff on combining DNA; and most intriguingly, a formula by the name of _"HYBR"._

Before my mind could properly analyze whatever data I was spoon-feeding it, Brian turned around and I looked astray from the papers, acting as if nothing was the matter. "I found a pen! One that actually _works_ that is…"

He walked back to the desk I was at. "Let me just put this stuff away," he said, and neatly re-organized the papers and slipped them back inside his desk, effectively nullifying my curiosity of whatever those reports were about. "So, here's a fresh paper, and a working pen. Think you can write?"

I casually shrugged and shook my head at the same time. "Probably not… But I could try I guess."

"Exactly. No sense in not trying, eh? Oh, and your cousin's name is…?"

"Wendel. That's his name. He lives out far away… Way out in Unova, actually."

"THAT far? Wow, it must take weeks for your letters to go back and forth… You don't just use email?"

"They have no computers at the orphanage. Wendel doesn't have one either, so mailing by post is how we communicate."

"Oh, I see… Well, go ahead and start, if you wish."

I nodded and looked down at the blank sheet of lined paper before me. Brian had handed me the pen, but since I have no thumbs I had to grab the pencil with both paws to hold it steady. It was a slight bit awkward to hold it this way, but I managed to make it work. I settled on a simple, but still detailed letter about what happened over the last few days…

'_To cousin Wendel. Hello, I hope you are doing well. Sorry if the handwriting seems messier than usual, it's just that I still have to adapt to using both hands to write. Though you may not believe me, I'm being perfectly honest. A few days ago, I met a scientist from PokéGene Inc named Brian. Get this: They're working on experiments with DNA, and they had asked me to participate! The shocker? I actually became a Pokémon! If you still don't believe me, then sorry. I know this seems sudden, but it's the truth. Now I'm here, as a Pokémon—specifically an Oshawott, because I personally think they're cute—along with five others who also became Pokémon as well! I hope you understand the circumstances that have been going on here, seeing as how it may seem unbelievable. This was my own decision just so you know, so don't feel bad for me or anything. My arm's starting to get sore, so I'll stop now. Hope to hear back from you. Regards, Maxwell.'_

Though it isn't as careful and meaningful as I usually write them, as I found it hard to find proper words to describe my situation (and I really couldn't be bothered), it was a letter nevertheless. All I really needed to do was try and explain the gist of what went on here, so my cousin might understand. (But eh, if Wendel still doesn't believe it, then what more could I do anyway? I'd be wasting my time at that point.)

During my write-up of the letter, I noticed that Mark had quietly entered the room to speak with Brian. They took their conversation outside, so I had no idea what it involved. Honest to Mew, if I had a Pokédollar for every time a secret was kept around here…

It took me about a half-hour to finish writing the whole letter (not counting the times I accidentally let the pen slip from my grip). There were quite a few spelling errors, sure, but I wasn't feeling that able to put a lot of effort into this, so they slipped my mind. After I was finally done with writing (my arms were indeed sore after that effort) I dropped the pen onto the desk and looked over the letter. _"(__Yes, this should explain everything,)"_ I thought. Soon it occurred to me that Brian still hadn't returned from talking with that Mark guy. Where _was_ he?

I waited for about two more minutes until Brian _finally_ returned. "Sorry about the wait," he said apologetically. "But there were a few important matters to discuss that demanded my attention. Just so you're aware, Mark will be staying with us for a few weeks; he'll be sleeping in one of our spare subject rooms. I'm sure you'll get around to liking him!"

That Lucario named Mark…he seems like a nice enough guy, so I really should try to get to know him better later on…

"Anyway, how's your letter coming?"

"Finished," I replied. "I'd been done for a couple of minutes now. Turned out okay, I think…"

"Hmm, do you mind if I have a look?"

I nodded, and handed him the letter.

"…Well, the handwriting might not win any awards but it's great nonetheless; considering your lack of opposable thumbs. Other than that, it's well-written! Nice work! Oh, and his address is?"

I told him my cousin's address, as well as postal code and such.

"Okay… I'll just write that down… There! I'll mail it for you sometime later, okay?"

"Thanks Brian," I said, smiling, "it's just something I thought I should get out of the way is all."

He chuckled. "Think nothing of it; it's only the right thing to do." Suddenly it seemed like he remembered something. "Oh! Almost forgot to tell you, I had taken some of that time I was gone to give the others the VCAC plug-in. Judging from the results, I'd say VCAC is a complete success!"

"Wait, you managed to…"

"Yep. Warren, Samantha, Steve, Mary, and Matthew all have the ability to speak English again!"

"Woah… Cool… Now we can ALL talk to you just fine!"

"Exactly! Now communication between everyone is totally on par. A real breakthrough, huh? Though I'd love to see if some kind of medicine can be produced from what we found out…"

Just as me and Brian were about to leave his office, I remembered an issue that was brought up earlier today. "Uh, Brian?"

"Yes?"

"Can I ask a question?"

"Shoot."

"Just a thought really… When do you think we can…I dunno…go outside and get some fresh air or something?"

"…Well, I haven't really thought about that very much… I would LOVE to bring all you kids out somewhere to town—just the seven of us—but…well, it's sort of complicated."

"How so?"

"I'm just worried that bringing you all into a heavily populated area is a bad idea. One of you could get lost, or perhaps even stolen… I don't want to risk anything, but…it's not fair to you or any of the others to not go outside at all…"

"Then…um…what do we do about that?"

"I might have an idea… But it'll have to wait. For today, at least. I'll see what I can try tomorrow, or the day after."

"Sounds good."

"Great then. Well, we should be getting you back to see your friends, shouldn't we?"

A quick run down the hallway later, we arrived at the door to the living quarters. Brian led me inside, then mentioned that it was getting a bit late before leaving and wishing me goodnight. Feeling pretty happy about myself, I walked over to the living room where everyone was busily chatting with one another. _In English._ Brian wasn't kidding, that stuff worked on them too!

"Hi guys!" I said as I approached them. "You all can _talk_ now?"

Warren shrugged. "Well, _technically_ we could all talk b'fore, but now we're talkin' in _English_. So if that's what ya mean, then yes!"

"Ah, it's nice to hear the sound of my voice again, I simply love it!" Matthew said, and chuckled to himself in a pleased manner.

"Someone here sounds a little narcissistic, heheheh…" Steve joked, stifling a laugh. Both Mary and Sam couldn't help but giggle at this. Matt glared at the three of them.

I smiled brightly at the rest of my family. Where else could I possibly find friends like these? And to think, it's only the third day of me being here! Now I wonder what the _rest _of my whole _life_ contains…

* * *

_**Later that night…**_

Everyone else was asleep, but I hardly felt like doing the same. Dinner was good, as usual, so it wasn't _that _that was bugging me. No, it had to be a sense of foreboding. Like Brian told me earlier, he would try and figure out a way of letting us go out into the world again… But something didn't feel right. It was odd, actually, like a feeling of dread.

But why this? I have no idea. To calm myself, I jumped out of my bed and waddled over the large wall-sized window on the one side of the room. Drawing the curtains slightly, to reveal the star-filled night sky hovering over the darkened landscape, I was immediately wracked with a feeling of desire - prompting me to lean and press my face against the glass pane. I suddenly cared about being free, about roaming about on my own, or with someone else…

…And I soon came to my senses, having just shaken off the thought of running away. What was I _thinking_? I have to be patient is all; Brian will take us all out together, as a family, tomorrow or the day after. Yet…I couldn't help but feel slightly upset.

Sighing, I returned to my bed and crawled underneath the covers, making sure I was comfortable. Almost without realizing it, my tiredness finally came and I slowly slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

As Maxwell fell deep asleep, two other figures—pretending to be asleep—rose from their beds and looked at the sleeping Oshawott, then at each other. One was a Pikachu, the other a Ralts.

"Do you think we should tell him?" Steve asked, gazing curiously at his adopted brother (the sleeping one).

Warren sighed. "I dunno… Is it really that important?"

"Not really. But it wouldn't be fair if he were the only one to _not _know about it."

"I see yer point, but he's had 'nuff crazy stuff go on fer him…"

"True…true…"

"We shud jus' leave 'im be then… Uh… G'night, Steve."

"…Night, Warren."

* * *

**A/N: UPDATED: As per usual, I fixed spelling/grammar junk, and did a little bit of rewording. Other than that, there isn't much else to speak of. :P Nevertheless, I hope you readers (new or old) enjoyed it.**

**Review where it's due, osha! Until next update, fare thee well!**

**-TheAuthorGl1m0**


	9. Dreams and Desires

**A/N: ...Phew! Hello again readers! It's just your friendly neighborhood author gl1m0 here, serving up yet another chapter of story-flavored goodness! =P In other news: Summer is here! YAYNESS! But sadly, I have a surprisingly scarce timetable for writing stories now... Thanks to my totalarianist dictator parents. Boo. They put a chokehold on my computer usage so I can't really write much... At least this chapter was 95% done by that time! XD It was delayed, naturally, but fear not! Chapter 9... is here. **

**Thanks again to all the good people who read and review this story, you guys are awesomesauce! :D Thanks to you, _The Pokemon Project_ has 6800+ hits, 38 reviews, and 40 favorites! My most successful story yet, even outstripping all my other stories _combined._ Huh. I need to write more stories... Oh, speaking of which, there's a new poll on my profile page. If I WERE to create another story, which would you like to see more from me, out of the ideas listed? More details on the poll itself, so check it out please! And don't forget to VOTE! Your feedback is important! Now, back to story matters...**

**So, what happens now that Max and company can speak? Perhaps Brian can work something out with the "outdoors" thing? What is UP with that vision Steve had? Read the chapter to answer at least a **_**few**_** questions... Oh, and did anyone else notice how I failed to say WHICH Pokémon region Genta City is in? Well, the answer is in the chapter! (Just a forewarning, it's a made-up region!) Without further ado, Read and Review!**

* * *

**_Saturday, June 12 - ? ? ?  
__Subject 006 / Name: Maxwell_**

_I... I'm surrounded by... water? Water all over?_

It was true. I had just realized that I was drifting in a huge body of water, several feet below the surface. Sunlight streamed from above, and I could see numerous kinds of fish Pokemon swimming all over. The gurgling and whooshing sounds of the water around me were clearly audible, and the cool and wet sensation of the water felt very pleasing on my skin.

But then I realized that... If I somehow ended up underwater... And—Wait, _I can't breath!_ Oshawott may be Water-types but they don't have gills or anything! I'm drowning!

Suddenly desperate for air, I kicked my feet and sent myself towards the surface as fast as I could. To my surprise, even though this is my first time swimming, it felt almost natural to me. My flipper-like feet and flat tail made it so easy to maneuver, it just about amazed me to the point of almost forgetting about me practically drowning.

With every kick and paddle, I edged closer and closer to the water's surface, which I could now see above me...

_Getting closer... closer... so close..._

And finally...

_SPLASH!_

I broke the water's surface at last, and took in a huge gasp of sweet, sweet oxygen. After I had gotten my fill, I floated about on the waves treading water while panting and looking around the expanse. This wasn't a normal body of water... It was far too vast... This had to be... some kind of _ocean!_ One that stretched far beyond the horizon... Probably miles deep... An endless blue void of H2O...

But... how did I end up here? I remember that I went to sleep, and I—

"_Oh, hello! You must be Maxwell!"_

I blinked. Who said that just now? "Hello?"

_"Teehee! I'm right over here, silly!"_

"Who are y—" I begun to ask, but then I turned around in place and saw, to my shock, a little blue Pokémon half-submerged in the water. It seemed to be some kind of ocean creature... It's entire body was a bright blue, with a bulb-shaped head, yellow-eyes and eyelashes, a red gem-like object in its chest, and flipper-like arms. A pair of whip-like appendages with a tiny orb attached to the ends of each were fixed at the top of its head.

_"Me?" _the Pokémon said (in PokéSpeak of course, but I could understand it still),_ "My name is Mana_—" He suddenly gasped and shook his head vigorously._ "Oh! I almost gave away my name! My friend said not to! Oh, silly me! Silly Manaphy! You shouldn't forget what your friend said to you!"_

"...Um..."

_"Sorry, I can't say my name! Please understand! My friend likes secrets!"_

...I didn't have the heart to inform the poor thing that he already blurted out his name... Manaphy, was it? Think I heard it from somewhere before...

_"A-ny-way!" _Manaphy continued, _"I'm supposed to tell you important stuffs!"_

"...Important... stuffs...?"

_"Yeah! Like, my BFF told me that I needta talk to an Oshawott named Maxwell and give him something!"_

"Give me something?"

He nodded. _"Mm-hm! I'm supposed to give you a thing called a Mystic Water!"_

"A _what?"_

Manaphy reached for something under the water, and pulled up a tiny raindrop-shaped blue gem with a necklace-like chain strung to it. _"Mystic Water! It's a really pretty gem thing, and it'll help you learn water moves better! And they'll be stronger too!"_

"So... it's a battle-specific item?"

_"Weeeeeeelllllllllllllll... sorta. But it looks really pretty!"_

"...Uh, but... is that _all_ you're here for?"

_"Yep! I just give you it and that's all I godda do today! Then my friend says I can take a day off! YAYNESS!"_

"Ooooookay..."

_"Here here! Take it take it!" _Manaphy suddenly thrust the item into my possession, leaving me with too many questions and not enough answers. "But wait," I asked, "How are you even...? And how did you...?"

_"I gotta go now, 'kay? See ya! And remember... Trust in your feelings, your friends, and family too! Keep that in mind, and you can't go wrong!"_

"But... who..."

_"So long!"_

Before I could even attempt to do or say anything, the odd seafarer Manaphy dived under the water, and I saw him no more. I held my breath and briefly stuck my head underwater, to see if he was anywhere, but the Pokémon had vanished. "Manaphy..."

Lifting my head back out of the water, I pondered his whereabouts. I realized that I still clutched the tiny gem—which Manaphy called Mystic Water—and so I stared at it for the longest time. ...Well, if it's supposed to be doing something then it's totally failing at it. Oh well, at least it _looks_ half-decent.

But, after thoroughly examining my surroundings better, I soon found a new complication... I was here, treading water in the middle of an _ocean_, right? So... that means...

...Aw, crap.

"Oh god!" I exclaimed (to no one in particular...), "H-how am I HERE? What happened to the bedroom? What happened to everyone else? What happened to the... the... Er... Uh... Wait a second..."

At once I realized, this all HAD to be some kind of dream. There's no other explanation anyhow! But what struck me as odd is that... how in the world did I end up in an OCEAN this time...? And meeting this... Manaphy? Was it all false? Or did it actually...?

* * *

"Waah!"

Oh, guess what folks? IT _WAS_ A DREAM. Egh, why does that not even surprise me anymore...

Now fully awake, I wearily turned my gaze around the room—from the left to the right. It looked like Matt and Sam were still asleep... Mary was too... But where were Warren and Steve—"**AAAH!**"

"Ack! Keepit down Max, you'll wake everyone else up with yer yellin'..." "I concur, you almost knocked me off my feet with that shout."

I blinked. "H-huh?" As it turns out, both Warren and Steve were standing _right beside my bed_ when I woke up. No wonder I was so startled... What were these guys thinking? "Y-you guys s-s-scared me!" I exclaimed, somewhat angrily, "What the heck, man? What's up?"

Warren rubbed the back of his head in an embarrassed fashion, and chuckled. "Err... Sorry 'bout that buddy... Didn't mean ta startle ya like that... But me an' Steve wanted ta tell ya somethin' purty important."

"And... that might be?"

"Well, I... Ah'll jus' let Steve 'splain it..."

Steve looked to the side. "So... Maxwell... Me and Warren had a talk about this... vision I saw..."

I suddenly perked up. "A... vision?"

"Yes," he said, nodding, "I wasn't sure what it all meant at first... All I knew was that brief image I saw, and what it appeared to be centered around..."

"What was it and who was it?"

Bit by bit, Steve recounted the details of his vision: two small figures in a fight against a larger one, and how it felt like a bad omen, being held on to by...

"Mark?" I asked, confused.

Steve nodded once again. "Uh-huh. It doesn't seem to be his fault at all, rather... It appeared to be a sort of carry-over misfortune if you will. As hard as it is for me to belief, something bad might—or will—happen to him in the future... And that his problem might become our problem."

"But... H-how is _that_ possible...?"

He sighed. "I have no idea. To be honest, it seems rather fishy to me. But enough about that... There's another thing I want to say."

I blinked with surprise. "A-and that is?"

"...Well, it's just that... Last night, I had a similar vision... But... it felt... different... And that's what unsettled me more..."

"Ohh..."

"Everything about the vision from yesterday was there... Only... The feeling of misfortune that was originally centered around Mark... It wasn't there anymore. It was somewhere different, it had already moved... It was..."

"...Yes?"

"It was... was centered around..."

"Who? WHO?"

"...You..."

"M-M-ME?"

"Yes... Unfortunately..."

"B-but how can something like _that_ rub off on me? It doesn't make any sense!"

"Hmm, this is only a theory, but... Perhaps when you and Mark first met each other, your fates became intertwined; a disruption of otherwise normal continuity, if you will."

"...Sounds like bunk to me... And yet... I can't help but worry..."

"But, even so, I have no _real_ idea what it all means... And I'm not really confident about my theories... So, it's probably just nothing to be concerned about..."

"I sure hope you're right..."

Warren came up beside me and patted my back in a feeble attempt at reassurance. "Don't worry 'bout nuttin', Max! It's jus' a dream, right? Or somefin'?"

"The proper term is 'psychic vision', Warren..."

"Well excuuuuuse me, Steve! Dreamin', visionin', hallucinatin'... S'all the same, ain't it?"

I stared up at the ceiling in an absentminded fashion. "Yeah... Dream... Hold on, dream—" Suddenly I realized what I woke up from earlier, and I made a sort of clap that said 'I've got it!' or something to that effect. "Wait a second! Dream! That's it, I had another dream last night, guys! It was almost like the one I had before, too!"

The Pikachu looked rather surprised. "_Anudder _one? Honest ta Mew, ain't that always the way... Are ya sure?"

I nodded. "Positive! It wasn't quite the same scenario as before... But it was definitely a dream like the one before."

"...I can attest to that," Steve said, putting a hand to his head in concentration, "Get this... Your mind's all fogged-up _again._ It _had_ to have been the same sort of dream... What happened in it?"

I began to recite the happenings of that dream I had. For some reason, my memory of it was pretty sketchy, but I was able to recall the important details. The ocean, the feelings, and most importantly, the Pokémon named Manaphy.

"MANAPHY?" both Warren and Steve exclaimed, clearly shocked as how such a rare Pokémon was not only in my dream, but SPOKE to me.

"I'm dead serious you guys, I know it was that Pokémon," I insisted, "It talked to me, showed its face to me, showed its... rather unusual personality to me, and get this... It gave me something, too!"

Warren gave me a look of disbelief. "Really now? An' that would happ'n ta be?"

"He called it 'Mystic Water' or something like that... I dunno, it was really... Wait up, I was holding on to it a second ago, but now..." I checked where I originally held the gem in my paw, then around myself. It wasn't there! "B-but! I know I had it with me... Well, it _was_ a dream so I guess it's not real—"

"Uh, Max? Is this 'Mystic Water' you speak of shaped like a raindrop? And sort of blue-colored with a necklace attached to it?" Steve asked, tilting his head to the side a bit.

I was a bit taken aback. "Y-yes! How did you kno—"

"It's sitting right there on your pillow."

"Huh?"

Whipping my head around towards my pillow, I'm pretty sure I felt my jaw drop. There was a lovely, transparent blue gem, shaped like a raindrop, and a silver-ish chain attached to it.

It was the Mystic Water.

"H-how did..." I was at a loss for words. Of course, it seems that ever since I became a Pokémon I was at a loss for words much more often than before. Few things ever do make me speechless, it would have to be something either amazing or downright bizarre. Yeah, I could've probably counted on one hand how many times _that_ had ever happened in my human life, but now... Well, I don't even have fingers to count with anymore...

But this, quite simply, takes the cake. I had a crazy dream (not even regarding that spaced-out Manaphy) and woke up to find out that an item from the same dream randomly appears ON MY FREAKING PILLOW! Sense, this makes none. There's only one explanation for this stuff... But it sounds a little stupid... Oh, screw it, that dream could not have been fake. Or at least, that Pokémon and our brief discussion couldn'tve been. How else could I have ended up with that gem? And that dream... It felt too real, the water was wet, the air was cool and crisp... Is it possible to dream a fallacy so truthfully? Whoa, I'm starting to overthink this now.

Picking up the Mystic Water, I held it in my paws and studied it closely. That glossy texture, that unmistakable shape, that lovely sheen... This was, without a doubt, the same one from my dream. "...Wow... Just look at this thing..." I muttered, fairly awestruck by the combined beauty of the item and the fact that it materialized out of nowhere.

"...Well," Warren said, eying the Mystic Water intently, "Ain't that somefin'..."

Steve shifted his gaze between the jewel and myself. "Max... This is the same item from your dream?" he asked suddenly, "Because frankly, I find it a little hard to believe. Are you sure you didn't have this before you went to sleep last night?"

"Positive..." I mumbled, not taking my eyes off the water gem.

"...Hmm, well I can't say how it ended up here... but... seeing as how you had another dream, and your mind's fogged again, I'd say that those are all connected somehow. Maybe the Pokemon that gave you it—Manaphy—is somehow responsible for this?"

I chuckled in an unsure sort of way. "I'm... not sure if _that_ Manaphy is smart enough to plan all that... And it doesn't explain my last dream either, 'cause it was definitely a different Pokemon or whatever in the other one."

"...You don't think it's at least involved?"

I frowned. "Well... he _did_ mention his 'BFF' told him to find me—by my name I might add—and give me that Mystic Water, so Manaphy's _obviously_ involved... somehow..."

"That would mean that this all might be bigger than we thought..." Steve thought out loud, putting a hand to his chin in thought.

A few moments of silence followed.

"...I think we're worrying about this too much," I said, interrupting the stillness, "Come on, it's not like this is something that could spell D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R, right? No sense in fussing about this, eh?"

Steve shrugged. "I'm none too concerned about it either. If anything it's probably not harmful or whatever. I mean hey, you got free stuff after all." He said that last part with something of a smirk...

I flashed him a bemused smile, then turned my focus back to the Mystic Water. What should I do with it, now that I have it? Hang on to it for who-knows-how-long? Stuff it in a drawer and promptly forget about it? Sell it on PokéBay for quick cash? Decisions, decisions...

To be honest, I doubted this thing had any capacity for usefulness, but that's when I remembered what that Manaphy told me... It's supposed to be something that has helps out with Water-type moves... But what use is _that_ to me? I don't know any moves like that, all I know is how to whip around my shell-thing. Yet, I felt compelled by it somehow. So much so, that I figured, what the heck, I may as well see what it's like to wear (seeing as how it has a necklace attached to it).

So, with a little difficulty—it was hard to easily slide it over my head—I finally managed to comfortably fit it around my neck. Nothing really happened when I did, so I assumed its purpose was merely ornamental.

"Hey Max, that actually looks gud on ya!" Warren said, admiring my new little piece of jewelry, "Ah'm no fashion expert an' all, but I reckon the blue would go real well with your hat an' body too! O' course a lotta water Pokémon are blue-color'd... But ya get my point."

"Yeah... I suppose it does," I replied, my smile getting a little wider.

"So guys..." Steve said, clearing his throat loudly, "What do you say we go and get something to, I don't know, eat? I myself haven't had any food since last night's dinner."

"Neither have I!" Warren concurred, patting his stomach, "Well, c'mon then! Time's a wastin'! First one there gets seconds!" And of course, the guy rockets off before I even have a chance to ask, "We have seconds?" Honest to... Why'd he have to be a Pikachu? They're so darn fast...

Steve evidently shared my thought. "...That hardly seems fair, Warren. But knowing _you..._"

_"Hey c'mon!"_ Warren shouted from outside the room, _"I was only kiddin'! Are we gonna eat or what?"_

"As soon as everyone else is awake—"

"We are."

"Huh? What the hey?"

Both me and Steve turned around to find none other than Samantha, Mary, and Matthew all awake. And they seemed like they knew something.

"Uhh... Hey, guys..." I said meekly, throwing in an uneasy laugh, "Err, lovely day today, huh? Heheh... Umm..."

The three continued to stare at me and Steve.

"...How much did you guys hear?" Steve asked in a unambiguous tone.

"Enough," Matthew said, a bored expression plastered on his features, "Enough to already answer our questions about that new necklace of yours, otter-boy." What is with that nickname he keeps giving me? Good lord...

I heaved a sigh. "Look guys, I'm _really_ not in the mood to talk about this, so can we—"

"_What's takin' you fellers so long? Hurry up, already!"_

Saved by the bell. Or in this case, the Pikachu... "We're coming! Hold on a second!" I shouted back, then returned my focus to the situation at hand, "Alright, here's the deal, we'll discuss this after breakfast, okay? I can't argue with anyone without something in my stomach."

The three nodded gently. Steve murmured what sounded like, "Fine," but I wasn't totally sure.

I straddled back to my bedside and pulled out my shell from under the pillow, affixed it to my stomach area, then proceeded to retrieve my hat from the bed's end-table and slip it comfortably on my head.

"Alright, come on then. I really could use some food..."

* * *

**_Meanwhile, in the far-off Unova region... _**

At the same time of the Pokékids' antics, events are unfolding a world away. A plane trip from Genta City to the Unovan capital of Castelia City would take about half a day—many whole days if by boat. At the town known as Nacrene City, a 16-year old boy by the name of Wendel lives. If you may recall, he's the distant cousin of our little Oshawott boy, Maxwell.

Wendel sat at his upstairs bedroom desk, quietly reading one of his favorite novels. He stole a few glances at the room around him. Since most homes and places in Nacrene are converted from old warehouses, they weren't necessarily "amazing" places to live. But still, they're quite cozy.

"Wendel!" a voice called from downstairs, "Dinner's ready, get down here!"

The teenager sighed. "Coming mom, I'm coming!" he called back. Glancing at the clock, Wendel saw it was almost 7 P.M. At the back of his mind, he knew that his cousin Maxwell would be waking up just now, as Genta City is in a much different time zone. Well, living that far away in Pæin will do that to you, he supposed. _If only he could be here, _he thought. _If only we weren't so poor..._

Shutting the book, then stuffing it under his pillow for later reading, Wendel began to walk out of the room. Before exiting the doorway, he looked back at the bedroom window—which had the shades drawn—that revealed the quiet evening, with the sun setting. _"I wonder what Max's doing right about now..."_ he muttered to himself. Shrugging, Wendel stepped out of the room and went to satisfy his hunger needs.

Miles away, through the Pinwheel Forest and across the Skyarrow Bridge, in the city of Castelia, another boy lives. Though, not nearly as happily as the one we saw earlier (not that the other one was very happy to begin with, but you get what I mean).

The boy, aged 15, had short brown hair and sky-blue eyes. He wore a white t-shirt, blue-colored jeans, black shoes, and had a navy-blue scarf tossed over his shoulder—since he didn't need to wear it indoors.

Living within the city's orphanage, the boy silently tread the halls in a bored fashion, with none but a loyal Lillipup at his side. His little trek through the building was interrupted however, as another of the orphans living here decided to haggle him for the sheer fun of it. (Life really sucks for orphans, doesn't it?)

"Yo, Aleron!" the kid called out, straddling up to the boy and his Pokémon with a swagger in his step, "On another one of your stupid 'walks'? Heh, and with your little mutt, too." The Lillipup growled angrily at this.

The boy—whose full name is Aleron Bane—did not appreciate the rather snarky comment made by this mean kid. He knew him, of course. This bully was none other than Bruce Orlo (often referred to as "Brute," due to his intimidating attitude and size).

"You," Aleron said angrily, raising a pointed finger, "Don't you call Hope a 'mutt'. He's _my_ Pokémon, and my _friend_ too. So back off, Brute."

Bruce looked unimpressed. "Hmph. Whatever man. You take that thing _everywhere_ with you. Heh, but I guess that's what we can all expect from a pansy like _you_..."

Aleron gritted his teeth in anger. "He's not a 'thing'!" he hissed, "And I'm not some pansy! I went on a journey to become the champion I'll have you know! Just get out of my way, Brute! Or I'll have Hope use Take Down on you!" Hope (the Lillipup) barked several times in agreement, then growled at Bruce some more.

"Feh, whatever. I'll letcha go this time, Al. But you better be watching your back next time." With that, Bruce the Brute stomped away, leaving a very flustered Aleron.

"_I hate that guy..."_ he muttered under his breath. He looked down at his Lillipup, and gently patted it on the head. "Let's not worry about that jerk Hope," he said to it, "Wanna just go back to our room and hole up there for the rest of the night?"

"Pup! Pup!" Hope barked in agreement.

Aleron smiled a bit. Since the time he lost his parents in a terrible ship-sinking incident three years ago, spending time with his Lillipup (whom he had decided to nickname "Hope") was essentially the only thing that kept him (mostly) happy all this time. After all, it was a gift from his parents on his twelfth birthday. If you will, Hope was a reminder of what life he used to have...

Suddenly, Aleron was shoved from behind quite hard, sending him face-down to the floor. "Waah!" _THUD! _"Oww..." Hope scampered to it's fallen trainer's side, whimpering, then growled menacingly at his attacker. An all-too-familiar voice rang around Aleron's head. "Well, I _guess_ maybe just one shove will do for tonight Al! I _did _say watch your back, y'know! HAH! See ya, sucker!" The assailant—obviously Bruce—turned to walk away, chortling madly.

The boy slowly pushed himself off the floor, took one glance at the retreating bully, and scowled. "Hope..." he said lowly, looking down to his Pokémon, "...Bite."

Taking instant reaction to its trainer's orders, the Lillipup barked and began charging at the "foe." As it neared Bruce, the Pokémon took a leap and executed what task it was commanded to do. It was very uncomfortable for the target, to say the least.

Though it certainly would not be gratifying to elaborate on details, let's just say that upon jumping towards Bruce (who was walking away in the opposite direction (still laughing mind you)), Hope decided to target a particularly fleshy area located somewhere around his lower-rear abdomen, then once within range, it clamped on that area with its razor-sharp teeth, and... Well, if anything was certain, ol' Brute would have a tricky time sitting down properly for a while.

"**YEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOW!"**

With the Lillipup's jaw clenched firmly on Bruce's rump, the bully began shouting and screaming in pain and anger. "Geddit-off-geddit-off-geddit-OFF!" he yelled, doing a pretty weird impression of an Irish jig in a desperate attempt to shake the dog off from him.

Finally, Hope decided to let go, then scurried back to it's trainer, who patted it on the head while expressing mirth at his tormentor's pain.

"You... YOU! YOUR LUNATIC MUTT BIT MY A(beep)! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" Bruce roared, giving Aleron and his Lillipup a glare that brimmed with hatred.

Aleron snickered, and ignored the bully's rant. He motioned for his Lillipup to follow, and the two walked away, leaving Bruce the Brute yelling at them, still clutching his bottom in pain. "YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST WALK AWAY? HAH! I KNEW YOU WERE A PUSSY! I BET YOUR DEAD PARENTS WERE JUST AS STUPID AS YOU ARE!"

Before he rounded a corner in the hall, Aleron suddenly stopped, and flashed a cold glare at Bruce, his satisfied smile vanishing instantly. "Never. Say. Anything. About. My. FAMILY!" He shouted the last word, anger easily found in his voice. Hope growled at Bruce as well.

The bully, wounded and not fit to retaliate due to the attack on his rear, decided to yield for now. "T-THIS ISN'T OVER, BANE! YOU'LL REGRET THIS!" Bruce shouted, then quickly retreated off to some place where his little injury may be tended to.

Aleron exhaled sharply, still seething mad at his tormentor, and proceeded to stomp away while muttering angry swears and curses. His anger soon subsided, but he wouldn't forgive Bruce for that remark.

On his way back to his room, Aleron happened to be passing by the orphanage's office right as the owner of the place—Mr. Ferguson—was walking out. It appeared that he just got off talking on the phone.

"Aleron? Oh, what impeccable timing!" Ferguson said in a rather chipper British accent, "My boy, the time has finally arrived!"

This took Al by mild surprise, though he hardly felt moved by it. "Sigh, what is it now?"

"I just got a call from a chap named Brian, and he said that he looked at your profile we had for you and decided to come and have a chat with you! Isn't that grand?"

Aleron gave the man a bored look. "...So, you set up _another _interview for me? What makes you think it'll go through _now_? You know how hard it is for teenagers to be adopted... Weren't all those failed interviews in the past ANY indicator of that?"

Mr. Ferguson sighed. "I know Aleron, but come now, he said he was very eager to meet you! In fact, he's coming here all the way from the Pæin region to come see you!"

"T-the _what_ region? Pæin?"

"As odd as it might sound, it's true. Pæin is a region far to Unova's southwest. It's a ways east from Hoenn, if that helps. Tiny little place, yes, but it's got plenty of charm."

The boy simply shook his head. "I dunno sir..."

"Well, you'll have all night to think about it. Besides, he sounded like a very kind and reasonable man. Anyway, you must be tired, go get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow, boy."

Ferguson stepped back into his office after he was finished talking and shut the door, leaving Aleron and Hope in the hallway alone. With no other pressing matters to worry about, Aleron started back toward his room. As he passed by a wall clock, he took a quick glance at it. It was 7:30 PM.

"_Getting a bit late..."_ Aleron mouthed to himself, then called to his Lillipup to follow as he went to get some much-needed rest.

He sniggered when he recalled Bruce getting bit in the butt by Hope.

* * *

**_Saturday, June 12 – Living Quarters SUB – PokéGene Inc. – Genta City, Pæin Region  
__Subject 005 / Name: Matthew_**

Heh, it always seems our otter boy Max is the one with the weird issues... I mean come on, ANOTHER one of those creepy dreams? Far as I can tell, none of us (myself included of course) had any of those ever since, well, that time two days ago. God, that voice still gives me shivers...

...Forget that last part. I have an image and repute to maintain.

Anyway, we started to go to the kitchen and then the table where our meals are always served... But... Wow, I had no idea it was possible to be _not_ hungry, but I didn't have as big an appetite as I thought I did. Which struck me as odd somehow... Come to think of it, I haven't really been feeling myself lately. I know that's a poor term for it, me not being human anymore, but I wasn't feeling "healthy" in any case.

Mary must've noticed me acting 'off', so she went and started a thing about it. "Matt? Is something the matter?"

"N-no," I muttered, partially ignoring her, "I'm f-fine. Fine. Yeah."

"But... you look real pale... Are you sick or something?"

"P-pale? Me? That's ridiculous—" Or at least I thought it was, until I saw (when I raised a hand to wave off the comment) that my normally jade-green skin had somehow started to fade, and take on a lightly-brownish color. Of course, I paid little mind to it, passing over the detail as if it were a speck of dust. "...Yeah, ridiculous. Don't worry about me, I'm perfectly fine."

The Piplup didn't look very convinced. "But just look at you! All pale and... withered..."

Sad for me that the others started taking note of this. "Matthew? Goodness, what's wrong?" Steve said, his alleged expression of concern veiled by his green helmet thing, "You looked fine a few minutes ago, but now..." Max, Sam, and Warren began to catch on as well. "Oh my..." "A-are you okay?" "Holy megawatt! Jus' look at ya..."

I groaned with both impatience and disdain, then shot everyone a look. "I'm FINE. So what if I'm a little... off-color? I feel... okay... Oogh..." I hate to admit this, but I was ACTUALLY starting to feel pretty... flimsy (and I noticed my normally-upright tail had drooped and was dragging across the floor, acting like a dead weight). The feeling of weakness began much earlier, but I only really started acknowledging it 'til... well, just minutes ago, actually.

"Gah, Matthew dontcha see?" Warren almost shouted, shaking his furry fist in the air, "Yer a Snivy! Snivy's a GRASS-type! Grass equals plants! An' plants need _what?_"

"...Tender loving care?" Maxwell offered, grinning sheepishly.

Warren did a face-slap. "BESIDES that! They need _two_ thangs: water, an' sunlight! Since when have ya ever gave yerself a sunbath? Or a nice drink o' plain ol' water?"

I actually thought about this. I _think_ I was okay on the water deal—last night I drank some of that fruit juice which is like 85% water anyway (and 15% Vitamin C (since I'm mentioning that, a topic of thought: Can Pokemon get scurvy?))—so no worries about that. The _sunlight_ part... Uhh... Well... I suppose I may not have had a lot of exposure to _that _very much_._..

Sure, the window in our room lets in large amounts of sun... except in one spot, for the whole day. Which is where my bed is. Even so, the blinds are usually shut anyway. The artificial fluorescent lighting anywhere else in this place doesn't count I suppose, since it's not as... "energizing" as the sun. So, I guess that means that I spend 95% of my time _out_ of the sun's rays. WELL, NO WONDER I'M SICK.

"...I never spend much time in the sun," I admitted at last, "But come on, we're _indoors_, where can there be a decent source of it besides the window in the bedroom?"

Warren shook his head. "It'll hafta do fer now. Mary, cud ya please help Matt out wit gettin' sum water? An' make sure he gets sum sun?"

"Umm... Sure... Okay..." Mary said, glancing in my direction. I couldn't help but scoff. Really, I don't need help from _her_.

But oh, Warren just glared daggers at me. "Matthew, ya _know_ it's fer yer own good. Let Mary help ya, _please?"_

"No. Way." I replied rebelliously, ignoring that sick feeling in my gut and everyone's stares. Without another word, I turned on my heel (Since when do Snivy have heels? Never mind...) and marched back into the bedroom—my still-flagging tail being dragged across the floor the whole way. If they want me to sun myself so bad, then _fine_, but I don't need Pengy's help for doing _that_.

There was only a slight problem... The shades on the window were drawn shut, and no sunlight was coming in at all. Worse, I was too weak to pull the cord to open it. Ugh, this must be fate coming back to bite me in the—

"Matthew?"

"Wha—" I turned around on the spot, and saw (to a little surprise) Mary, standing behind me with a small water bottle—a Fresh Water—in her grasp. "Mary? The heck are you doing here? I said I could handle this myself..." By now, I was starting to feel a little light-headed.

She just stood there, saying "Umm..." for a good minute and a half, and right as I was about to turn and ignore her... "Wait! I-I... just wanted... to give you... this..." Mary handed the Fresh Water to me, and I somewhat hesitantly took it.

Curious, I asked, "Why did you give me this? I already said I didn't need help, Pengy."

"It's... Mary..." she grumbled, eye twitching a bit (I'm guessing she doesn't like it when I call her stuff like that), but she took a calming breath and replied, "I only did because... Well, I was worried about you..."

"Worried about ME? I'm touched. Sniffle. No, seriously, I think I have a tear in my eye here." ...Yes people, I'm being sarcastic. Again.

"Come on Matt... I really did... I mean, you're my brother after all. Well, adopted brother I suppose, but still... Anyway, I should probably leave you alone, if you want it."

I couldn't find any words to say, oddly enough, so I gently nodded.

Mary nodded as well, in a sort of unsure way. "...See ya," she said quietly, then began walking out of the room.

Then, I did something that I would've normally considered demeaning. I called out to her. "H-hey..."

She stopped and slowly turned her head around. "Yes?"

"Uh, can you..." I gulped, once again swallowing my pride. "Can you... help me open these window shades? I... can't do it on my own..."

"You're... asking ME for help? For YOU?" Mary said, obviously astonished. She seemed a bit surprised at the circumstances, but so was I, so we were even.

I buried my face (well, my snout rather, since my head was serpent-like) in my hands, and mumbled, "Yes, it sounds crazy, I know, but... Ugh, you probably won't even—"

"That's okay."

"...Wait, WHAT?"

"I'll help you. Well, if you want..."

Obviously in a bit of uncertainty, I merely nodded dumbly, giving her a befuddled look.

Other than give me a curious look, she didn't make any other comments or complaints. Well, she _did _remind me about the Fresh Water—which I promptly began to drink. (Oh, it tasted sooooo good... And I never used to like bottled water either...)

Mary made good on her promise to help, and gave the cord a hard yank. Though it didn't open all at once, a gap about two feet wide opened up, and light instantly started pouring in, blinding me. "Ack! For god's sake, that's bright!"

Finally, I adjusted to the flooding sunshine, and caught sight of the outside. It must've been late morning by now, sometime before noon maybe, since it was so bright out. But the moment I recognized this light as sunlight, I began to feel... all warm and fuzzy inside...

Oh, I must be in heaven... Ever take a hot bath, or been to a spa? THIS is what it felt like. Totally unaware of what I was doing, I walked smack-dab into the middle of the light and laid down right then and there. I wasn't inclined to move at all.

Resting my head on my arm, once again in my backside-down "lounging" position, I sighed pleasurably. I let my no-longer-droopy tail quiver in the air, and the leaf-like appendage at the end seemed to absorb the energy the sun was ever-so-kindly offering. So much so, it was actually glowing a little bit. Huh, photosynthesis in action I suppose...

"Ah... I feel so alive..." I mumbled, getting comfortable in my position. This sun sure was doing the trick, I could _feel_ the life returning to me... But at the same time, I began to feel a little drowsy... Yawn... Maybe I...

...Zzzzzzzzzz...

* * *

**_Saturday, June 12 – Living Quarters SUB – PokéGene Inc.  
__Subject 004 / Name: Mary_**

Well... He just fell asleep... So, I guess that means I'm done here... Hey, at least he's looking better, the color is coming back to him.

But I can't get over why he suddenly decided to ask for help. Maybe he was desperate? Ugh, this is probably one of the weirdest families I've ever known. But I wouldn't want it any other way.

...Did that sound sappy just now? Sorry...

Er, anyway... With that bit of business done, I left the bedroom after a minute and rejoined the others in the living room. All still seemed concerned about Matt, since they started to bombard me with questions about how he was doing.

"C'mon, how is he?" Warren asked, anxiously gnawing on a bagel, "Is he a'ight? Sick? DEAD?" Samantha shivered at that last word, but Max reassured her. "It's okay Samantha, he's... just joking. Seriously though, is he okay?" the Oshawott asked me, his tone a bit concerned, but still calm.

Steve said nothing, but gently smiled after a moment. "He's fine everyone. Doing better than before actually. Isn't that right, Mary?"

"...Mind stalker..." I muttered, and the little psychic quietly chuckled. "Yeah, he's okay. Just... relaxing is all."

Warren, Maxwell, and Samantha all breathed collective sighs of relief. The Pikachu adjusted his goggles (which had slipped loose) and started chuckling heartily. "Ah, I knew that he'd be A-OK. Jus' wanted ta know fer shure. Oh, heh, and nice goin' on the mind-readin' by-the-by Steve. Heheh..."

"…Don't patronize me."

"Alright, I geddit! Ah'm jus' kiddin' bud! Uh, really! I am!"

"Warren, I can read your mind. Don't even try that. Or have you forgotten already?"

"…" Warren frowned and looked away. Obviously Steve had seen through his false apologetic act.

An hour passed, and nothing much happened. Brian nor Frank nor anyone else came through our door yet, and it was almost noon. Maxwell seemed worried about this, so I decided to approach him and ask what was the matter.

"It's just that... Well... Brian promised me yesterday that he would try and figure out a way for us all to go out into town or whatever, but... I'm wondering if he forgot, since... he hasn't shown up yet..."

I patted him on the shoulder reassuringly. "It's okay, I'm sure Brian hasn't forgotten," I told him, "He's probably off working miracles in some lab of his or whatever. The day isn't even half-over anyway! Isn't it too soon to be worrying?"

He shrugged, and replied, "Yeah, I suppose. I'm just nervous is all. I've had _way_ too much junk go on in my life thus far..."

_You and me both,_ I thought, but I shook it off and said, "That's... understandable. I know how you feel."

"Really?"

"Sure... But... I'd rather not talk about it... It's pretty personal stuff..."

"I... I see..."

I broke off from the conversation before things got too... complicated, but at least I cheered him up... a bit.

"Hey, Mary!" Warren called out to me from across the room, so I rushed over to see him (stumbling once or twice).

"What's up?" I asked.

"How long's it been since Matthew done fell 'sleep? Like, an hour? Someone shud go wake him the heck up already!"

I sighed. "Okay, I'll do it..."

Walking into the room and to where Matt lay (still bathed in sunlight, and his tail leaf glowing more than it was before), I looked at him head to... uh, toe, to make sure he was okay. The color had fully returned to him, and it looked like he was sleeping on his back in a dreamily content way.

"Well..." Seeing as how he was fully energized, I gave him a gentle prod. He hardly stirred. So, I gave him a harder poke. Followed by another. And another. Finally I resorted to a gentle shove, and he started to stir.

"Mmmrph... Mmmm... Five more minutes, mommy..." he mumbled, and flipped onto his belly and continued snoozing and snoring. I groaned at this. Matt's a heavy sleeper it seems...

After a dozen gentle (and a few not-so-gentle) attempts to wake him, my frustration reached a boiling point. I'm usually pretty calm, but even _I_ have my limits. And this was that limit.

But just as I was about to raise my flipper to deliver a heck of a Pound across his back, I happened to glance at the window curtain and got an idea. It seemed obvious, now that I think about it, so I felt a little silly for not thinking of it sooner. (Somehow I still felt like hitting Matt anyway, but I'm not THAT evil, so I didn't...)

Walking to the curtain, I pulled the two sides of the shades closed, and the light that was previously bathing Matt's body vanished. As if on cue, he woke up instantly. "Wh-what? What happened? I had the most wonderful... Er... Dream? I think..."

"Matthew, you've been asleep for an hour. Get up already, you look healthy enough to move now," I stated bluntly, nudging him some more.

He just turned his head around to give me an "I-don't-care" expression, then laid back down and continued snoozing (by this point it seemed that the absence of sunlight didn't really matter a whole lot to Matt).

I sighed in exasperation, and just when I was about to either leave or actually decide to hit him (by God I was so very tempted to do that), I heard the familiar sound of a distant door sliding open and an even more familiar voice in the other room, so I turned in the direction of the bedroom's door (which was open just a crack) to try and hear it better.

"_Good morning, everyone! ...Well, good _afternoon_ technically... Anyway, I have some news for you all!" _It was Brian. Took him long enough to get here, but I guess I can't complain, seeing as how he's a scientist and all...

When I looked back at where Matthew was lying, I discovered, to great shock, that he had vanished! My eyes darted across the room in a vain search, but then I looked back towards the door and saw the sneaky Snivy was making a getaway, slipping out the door whilst snickering. How could I not notice him doing that?

"Ugh..." With a defeated groan, I slowly walked out the door to the living room, but before I could even cross the threshold I was suddenly stopped by none other than the guy I was trying to wake up earlier, Matthew. Apparently he was hiding beside the door to make sure he'd run into me. He checked to make sure we weren't being eavesdropped on, then turned full attention to me. "H-hey..."

"What do you want?" I demanded, still a bit miffed by his attitude.

He looked down. "Grnk, well... I..." Matt started to say, but trailed off. He appeared to be having trouble saying something.

I crossed my arms to illustrate my irritation. "...Well?"

"Err... I... just wanted to say..."

"…"

"...To say... I wanted to say... thanks..."

I blinked with surprise. "What?"

"Thanks... for helping me out earlier... With the curtain things I mean... a-and giving me that Fresh Water too..."

"Oh... Um, it wasn't a problem at all?"

"No, really... I'm not really used to getting favors, and I don't often say "thanks", so... it's kind of a big deal to me."

"R-really? That's... uh... I suppose... You're welcome?"

"...Yeah. Come on, Mary. Brian wants to see us." Matthew turned and walked into the living room, and I followed close behind. I was smiling, but for a different reason than the fact that Matt showed me appreciation.

For once, he hadn't called me Pengy.

* * *

**_Saturday, June 12 – Living Quarters SUB – PokéGene Inc.  
__Subject 006 / Name: Maxwell_**

Soon after Mary went to wake up Matthew or whatever, I spent a little time sitting down with Samantha and just... chatting. About random things mostly.

I showed her the Mystic Water that had mysteriously appeared on my pillow, and she seemed rather entranced by it. "Wow, that sure is pretty," she said, eying the thing up and down, "You said that it... just appeared on your pillow?"

"Yeah, it did. Dunno how, or why, but... there it was."

"...Huh. Weird... You know, it kinda reminds me of the amulet you gave me... Similar shape, right?"

We both compared the Mystic Water and my silver amulet side-by-side. Aside from obvious differences, the general size and shape were quite similar: Both were loosely teardrop-shaped, and fit easily into the palm of a (human) hand. But looking at it now, the silver amulet wasn't a perfect shape in that respect; it had a few little "tufts" at the ends that ran along the sides, and the center of it had a swirling shape. It bore a slight resemblance to a will-o-the-wisp (they're just flaming "spirit balls" you hear in legends and stuff...), but I still decided to stick with my original description. The shape of these two had to be a coincidence anyway.

We talked some more, drifting in and out of varied topics.

"...So _that's_ how the Sinnoh region was formed? Sounds unbelievable..."

"Believe me, Sam. Those three legendaries are responsible for crafting the whole place from pretty much nothing. I know it seems unreal, but that's how cool Pokémon can be I guess. It was in a history book too, so I'm pretty sure it happened, heh."

"Hey, does our region, Pæin, have an interesting history too? I wasn't really paying attention in History class... Teehee..."

"...To be honest, it's nowhere near as interesting as the other places. Well, we DO host the Pokémon World Championships, where trainers from all over come to compete. I've seen it on TV more than once. It's the ONLY popular thing around here, but it's pretty recent, so, no ancient myths or whatever here..."

"Oh, that's a shame... It would've been nice for me to know our home is historic, but... Oh well."

"Yeah..."

"...Hey, Max?"

"Mmm?"

"I like hanging out with you... I guess I've always wanted a brother, but, well... Never thought it'd be like this." She giggled a bit, and I laughed with her as well.

"Well, that's nice to hear. I like spending time with you too."

Samantha smiled. "...Thank you. For everything."

"What did _I_ do?" I inquired, giving her a questioning look.

"You know... For talking with me, understanding me, playing _I See_ with me even... Stuff like that. Not even Warren has done all of that for me!"

"Eh-heh, well, I try..."

"You're more than just trying, Max." She edged a little closer to me and leaned her head on my side. For some reason it felt a bit awkward, but she's my 'sister' so I suppose it _shouldn't_ be...

We both said nothing for a minute. Warren saw us sitting together and couldn't help but offer his thoughts. "D'awwww... Ain't that cute, ya'll both sittin' t'gether like a couple o'... Well, a couple! Heheheh!"

I rolled my eyes at him, and he continued snickering. Samantha seemed a bit off-put by this, and sat back up (or at least sat up as best as a quadruped like a Cyndaquil could), shifting away from me a bit. I gave her a reassuring pat, saying he was only kidding (again). Though I couldn't be sure if she understood that, since Sam appeared to be lost in thought... Was she even paying attention?

Soon afterward, I _finally _heard noises in the hallway that were far too familiar by this point to forget. Footsteps. And voices. Both grew louder and more clear as the source approached.

"_...But Brian,_" one of the voices (most likely Frank's) said, sounding concerned, _"We already have six. That's all we agreed on, correct?"_

"_True,"_ the other (Brian) replied, "_But don't you remember all of those other ones we've been looking at? At least _some_ of them should be offered a chance. Wouldn't it be better than living futureless lives?"_

"_You don't know that, though. With certain cases, I'd understand. But with those otherwise... Why must you even try? It's not necessary."_

What on earth are they talking about? Ugh, apparently people are in love with secrets in this place...

"_Frank, we've talked about this before. We only consider kids without friends or family to hold to. Without those, it's unlikely they'll make it through life."_

"_...Though certainly still possible."_

"_At what cost? Happiness? Dreams? I'd sooner carve my own epitaph than tell a desperate and despondent child that he or she—instead of being given a new chance at life—can simply "tough it out.""_

"_Well, I suppose that's what I can expect from you, Brian... Always thinking about others nowadays... I suppose you remember when your wife... passed?"_

"_...Please, I don't really want to talk about that. I'll only say that's the whole reason I'm doing this — what happened all those years ago to her. I'm not going to let anyone else suffer like I have or Danny has, no one deserves to lose anyone important in their lives..."_

"_Sigh... Very well Brian. I suspect that's why you can relate with the kids so well. But have you forgotten already that your goal was mostly achieved?"_

"_...I haven't forgot. But it's not like we've actually made anything of _that_ sort you know, we're still a long ways from such a thing. Let's discuss this later, can we? I've a plane to catch."_

"_Yes, of course." _

Uh oh, a "plane to catch"? What is THAT supposed to mean? Brian is leaving? Where? Oh, and I was _just_ about to get my hopes up, but now...

Mere seconds later, the door to the quarters slid open and Brian calmly walked in, then turned to look at us (Me, Warren, Steve and Sam), smiling brightly. "Good morning, everyone! ...Well, good _afternoon_ technically... Anyway, I have some news for you all!"

I wanted to act happy about this, but judging from what I heard, not to mention his odder-than-usual getup (he'd forsaken the typical lab-coat and pants for a more casual short-sleeve shirt and jeans, and he carried a briefcase), it clearly indicated that this wasn't going to be anything I'd like.

Warren, Samantha, and Steve all took interest however—which kinda surprised me a bit, since I'm pretty sure they all heard that outside conversation—so I meekly nodded to show I was paying attention.

"Sooo... What's up, Brian?" Warren asked, folding his arms and tilting his head to the side a bit, "An' what's wit' the new wardrobe? Vacationin', maybe?"

Brian laughed. "What I wouldn't give for that! Hah! Well, not really. You see, I'm... Hold on a sec... Where's Mary? And Matthew, for that matter?"

"Well, um... You see..." Samantha started to explain, but was interrupted when the previously missing Pokékids suddenly rushed into the room, panting. "We're here, we're here!" Mary said, gasping.

Conversely, Matthew didn't seem tired in the slightest, despite the fact he was actually running faster than her. "Huh. You really should get in shape, Mary," Matt remarked once the both of them had reached us, smirking.

"Shut... up..." Mary said in-between breaths of air.

"Oh, there you two are!" Brian exclaimed, "I was just about to tell you kids some news. I have good news, bad news, and better news; which would you like to hear first?"

"The bad news," we all said nearly in unison.

"Alright, the bad news is that I'm going on a little trip. I should be back by tomorrow however, so until then you'll have to survive without me." Cue collective groan. "Yeah, I know, it really stinks, but bear with it for a day."

"So what's the good news?" I inquired.

"Good news! Yes, good news... Remember what you asked me about "going outside", Maxwell...?"

My heart leaped. He remembered! Maybe we'll be able to go out after all? "Y-yes! Yes, I did! And?"

Brian gave a friendly little smirk. "And... what? ...Hah, just kidding. Anyway, I talked with Frank and Danny about it, and _they'll_ take you all out around the uptown area. There's loads to do there: it has a park, there's a commercial district, and even a Trainer's Forum."

"Trainer's... Forum?" Warren interrupted, looking confused at the mention of that one place.

"Oh, that? It's basically this big open stadium where all kinds of trainers and Pokémon meet up to socialize or battle or whatever. Usually it's busy around the time of the Championships, but there are always people there year-round. Who knows, maybe you might make some new friends there!"

"Ooh, sounds nice," said Warren, nodding his head thoughtfully.

"As I was saying, Frank and Danny will take you guys up and around the town in the next hour or so. I think Mark said he was interested in tagging along too. I think it's about time you all got some fresh air and sun, am I right?"

Out of the corner of my eye I saw and heard Matthew give an awkward cough (for reasons which should be obvious by this point), but I mostly ignored it.

"And then there's the better news... Well, I would've wanted to keep it a secret, but let me just say there's a _potential_ chance—no promises on this one—that we might be getting a new friend hanging around here..."

"A... new friend?" Sam asked, brightening up all of a sudden.

Brian nodded. "Potentially, that is. But, I'm not 100% sure. I'd keep your fingers crossed if I were you!"

We all looked at our 'hands'. And nearly all of us (minus Warren and Matthew) looked back at Brian with a bored look on our faces.

"...Bad expression. Anyway, how's all that sound to you?"

'How's it sound'? Well, _duh! _I'm the one who's been wanting to go out in the first place, so _of course_ it's sounds good! ...But, why am I so worried about wanting to go out? Eh, maybe I'm overthinking this... "It sounds great! Guys?" I said rather cheerfully, and motioned to my adopted siblings.

"Oh! Uh, sure! Same here!" Samantha said, nodding in agreement.

Warren and Steve nodded as well. "Sure," Warren concurred, "May as well, eh? Ah'll miss ya fer a bit, Brian, but I'm 'kay with it."

Matthew shrugged. "Meh, why not? Could use the, coughSuncough, ahem."

"Going outside sounds nice... I always used to love the uptown area anyway," Mary said, agreeing as well.

"I guess it's decided then," Brian said, closing his eyes and smiling, "You're all going on a little field trip!"

* * *

_**Preview of the next chapter...**_

"Hot dang, this place looks great! Lookit all the greenery and trees and stuff! I haven't seen a park like this in my life..." Warren commented, gazing at the nature around him with sparkling eyes, "The fields, that there forest, the lil' pond o'er there... It's like... sumfin' outta a dream... Yeah, like— Eh? Maxwell? What's s'matter with ya?"

He noticed that I wasn't following him anymore, and the Pikachu gave me a weird look as I continued staring off into space. "This place..." I murmured, "I... I know this place..."

"Ya-wh-huh?" Warren sputtered, confused as to what I was implying.

"I dunno... It's like... Deja vu or something..." I felt my stomach twist with anxiety. Something about this place seemed a little... off. Not in a bad way, but it was as if nostalgia itself was slapping my face. With a fish. (And no sooner had I thought that I suddenly felt really hungry...)

But no amount of nostalgia could've prepared me for what happened after that.

"Oh! Hello, friend!" a tiny voice abruptly called out from behind me, and I froze up. It can't be... That voice...

Warren looked behind me to see what had said that, then gently smiled. "Oh, Max! This a friend o' yers?"

"Uh... Who?" I nervously mumbled, and slowly turned to face the source of the little voice. I couldn't believe my eyes. "It's... It's _you!_"

* * *

**A/N: AND THAT (as we say) IS THAT. At least for now. =P At long last, the Pokékids will finally venture forth into the world! ...Minus Brian. Just _where_ is he going? And what did he mean by a potential "new friend"...? And most importantly, what is the deal with Max and his new "ornament"? (And will I ever stop stacking up mysteries on you poor folks? xP)**

**Oh, and the new character shown midway through the chappie, Aleron, belongs to Aleron's Sword. He earlier requested a spot for his OC, which I oh-so-graciously decided to accept. :3 His purpose will become clear by the next chapter (though some of you may have already guessed what that is by this point considering what this story is about xP). Hope I did your OC some good so far, A.S.! ;D**

**And now, back to commentary/useless drivel as usual...**

–**So, the Pokémon in the dream this time is a Manaphy? We wonder what the other Pokémon from the dream before is... Perhaps that is the "BFF" that Manaphy referred to?  
**–**Even stranger is the Mystic Water... How did it suddenly appear? Obviously it could help Max out though... And lol, PokéBay. XD See what I did thar?  
**–**And interestingly enough, it seems the "misfortune" has already been passed on to Max. Oh joy. :P We predict problems. But can we trust our own ****theories? XD Nothing to be worried about... right?  
**–**Wendel was briefly shown in this chapter. I based him off a random cousin of mine who lives far away... Well, sort of. He's in the next town over. XP But I never get to see him much anymore...  
**–**Aah, poor Matt. That's whatcha get for being a Grass-type. XD At least now he's starting to be more "open." (At least to Mary, anyway. *shrugs*)  
**–**And yes... Pæin is the (made-up) region that Genta City and PokéGene Inc—and therefore the Pokékids—are in! Surprised? Yes? No? Maybe? Oh, what's the difference. :P Oddly enough, Pæin was a region I had planned to include in my other story "Bond of Steel: Soto Legends" (along with the region Soto, obviously) but regrettably THAT story is stuck at a measly two chapters with not much hope of continuing soon (But I DO have hopes to change that someday!) so I figured, why not, let's make it _this_ story's setting also. XD  
-What were Brian and Frank discussing? It seems the reason behind everything is deeper than you might think...****  
**–**Did you like the preview I decided to add? I've seen many authors add previews to give readers hints on what will occur next. So naturally (and somewhat shamelessly) I decided to do the same thing. :D Maybe it will spark a little speculation?  
-HOLY CRAP THIS CHAPTER IS LONG. O.O I _would've_ split it into two seperate chapters like that one other time, but I was lazy. At least the wait was hopefully worth it. (No, I have nothing against long chapters, it's just that it takes forever to write them. xP)**

**Now folks, that concludes Chapter 9. We (as in "I", but I find it's cooler to say "We" instead XD) hope you enjoyed it. If you didn't, then... Well, I'm not sure what to think, were it that... =P R&R PLZ!**

**From everyone this side of the Cosmos, We say fare thee well! *flashes peace sign and grins***

**-gl1m0**


	10. Out on the Town

**A/N: Before I say anything else, allow me to lend my hearty thanks to the faithful readers and reviewers of **_**The Pokémon Project**_**. Despite all the issues with my life, you people are the sole reason—combined with my love of writing—that makes all this worth it. I've seen the many pleas (many via review, but also a handful of rather heartfelt PMs) that were put forth, all asking if I was even alive and when I would update… Well, let's just say I decided to finally pick up the phone. ;)**

**After a year-long absence, I have finally returned with not one, not two, but THREE separate story updates for your perusal: **_**My Life With Pokémon**_**, **_**Black Wishes & White Dreams**_**, and of course, **_**The Pokémon Project. **_**The former two are completely new stories, so go check 'em out! **

**And in case you haven't already noticed, my penname has been changed. You may now address me as **_**'TheAuthorGl1m0'! **_**(You can still call me gl1m0, or maybe TAG, or you can use the name my friends like to give me, Glowbo. xP) Even more? I've massively overhauled my profile page's data with all kinds of new stuff; go and see it if you have the time! Updates will be more, um, "regular" this time around. **

**I could go on and spend a few more paragraphs describing in detail what made things in my life so arduous and what else I've being doing, but then you'd be missing out on the story, right? So here it is, another chappie of Pokémon Project for all the fanfic readers and connoisseurs out there!**

**tl;dr – I'm back in business, dood.**

**With no further ado, please READ and REVIEW!**

**PS: I **_**know**_** this chapter is preposterously long (18000+ words, OMG!), but sue me! :P At least I made up for my absence. I can't be certain of the overall quality myself though, so that is to be judged by you…**

* * *

_**Saturday, June 12 – Lobby - PokéGene Inc.  
**__**Subject 006 / Name: Maxwell**_

Whenever I think about the Uptown area, I get this odd chill for some reason. I dunno, I suppose it has something to do with being really excited? Because hey, I am _very_ excited. And the reason being? We're finally getting ready to actually _go_ to the Uptown area!

…But it's odd, actually. Come to think of it, I never did ask to go all the way to town _specifically_. Or did I? I can't even remember. Is it really that much to ask to just hang around the building's property? We can see plenty of grassy area out the window, after all… Eh, it doesn't matter now, since going to town is bound to be fun! …I hope.

I was in one of the Lobby's corners, absentmindedly twirling my blue baseball cap on one paw (and occasionally flinging it somewhere by mistake as a result of doing this, forcing me to go over and pick it up again). Warren was casually leaning against one of the walls opposite me, talking with Matthew about something. I noticed that they kept throwing me a glance every now and then as they spoke. What could they be talking about?

Samantha and Mary were also talking somewhere close to the center of the room. Both seemed quite engaged in their conversation, like Warren and Matthew were (minus the odd quick glance at yours truly of course). Steve was standing somewhere over…wait, hang on, where _is_ Steve? I could've sworn he was here a moment ago… Jeez, you look away for two seconds, and he goes off somewhere.

Brian had left about half an hour ago, after we all bid him goodwill on his trip. He didn't say exactly where he was going, only that he was going somewhere out of the region for the day, and that he'd be back by tomorrow. I really hope he comes back soon… I _already_ miss the guy…

I felt really lonely all of a sudden, even though my friends were barely a shell's throw away. It's like I'm being excluded from the conversations or something…

Sighing, I looked back over to Warren and Matthew. They were still talking it up, as I expected. …Well, if they _were_ talking about me or something then I feel like I have a right to know what was up. So, after a bit of hesitation, I started walking towards them. As I approached, I began to hear their conversation a bit clearer…

"…so, whaddaya think 'bout all that, eh Matt?" I could hear Warren say, and Matthew shrugged.

"Honestly? I think you're full of crap. C'mon, there's just no way."

"Matthew, do I hafta 'splain _everythin'_ over again? I jus' _know_ there's a connection!"

"Between _what?_ So the otter-boy got a jewel because of a dream, and it apparently relates to the one the other day. And that should be concerning me…why?"

"Well…Steve thinks that Max is really headin' fer a lotta trou—" Warren happened to look in my direction as I approached, and stuttered. "U-uh! M-Max's comin'! Act natural!"

Matthew threw me a glance as well, and rolled his eyes. "Oh, _sure_, way ahead of ya."

I fidgeted with the cap in my grip right as I came up to them, hoping that they weren't discussing what I _thought_ they were discussing… "Um, hey guys!" I said a tad over-enthusiastically. "What…whatcha talking about over here, huh? Eh-heh…"

"N-nothin'," Warren nervously replied, twiddling his tiny fingers. "Nothin' at all, Max… Uh, yeah… We was jus'…talking 'bout…cars?"

"Like we can even _drive_ those anyone," Matthew interjected, giving the Pikachu an apathetic look.

Warren chuckled uneasily, and straightened his goggles. "Y-yeah… Um… So, what're _you_ doin', Max?" he asked, obviously trying to sidestep my inquiry of their discussion.

I shook my head. "Nothing much, I was just feeling kind of…bored." I wanted to say "lonely", but that would've sounded a bit strange in the circumstances so I went with "boredom" as my reason. "I was just wanting to know if…well, if we could just chat about stuff?"

"Ah…er…uh…um… S-sure? Why not, bud? Eheh… It's…not like we'd keep secrets frum each other, right? All's honest in this family, right?"

For whatever reason, Matthew snorted loudly and shook his head. A slight smirk crossed the Snivy's features as he turned to face me. "Well, I've gotta go…anywhere else, so you and Mr. Hypocrite here have a nice chat, huh? Heheheh…"

"'Mr. Hypocrite'?" I asked, raising a brow.

He didn't answer me; Matthew just walked past and continued laughing about something. Okay, now I'm DEFINITELY suspicious about this. I turned back to Warren, and narrowed my eyes. "…Alright, what exactly were you and Matthew talking about?"

"N-nothin'…" Warren seemed ready to deny this to the bitter end. But I could tell by the way he was fidgeting that he wouldn't be that way for long.

"Come on Warren," I pleaded, "what is going on? Were you talking about me?"

"…" The Pikachu looked to the side, ears drooping, then back at me after a moment. "…Yeah."

I knew it. Warren _was_ talking behind my back… God, I feel so betrayed… "Okay, so what _exactly_ were you talking about?" I demanded.

He nervously scratched behind his ear, then finally said, "I was just explainin' ta him 'bout the dream ya had…and that Mystic Water stuff…"

"…And?" Surely they were talking about more than just _that_.

"…And…I was also tellin' him 'bout Steve's suspicions o' these dreams an' them visions…"

"…"

"…That's all I told 'im! I swear!"

"…Fine," I said quietly. Truthfully, I was positive that he was still hiding something, but I _probably_ didn't want to know what it was. Not that I care, really…

"…" There was an awkward silence between the two of us. Since my hunches were already confirmed, I didn't have much else reason to be there. But I had no intention of going back to the corner of the room and be lonely (and bored) again, so I figured that we may as well talk for real.

"…So, what are you gonna do in town today?" I asked him, trying to break the silence between us with an off-handed question.

Warren shrugged. "Well, personally I'd like ta check out that there Trainer's Forum… Hey, it sounds purty interestin' ta me!"

"Th-The Trainer's Forum?" I said, nervously biting my lip. "Isn't that the place where the trainers gather around and…battle?"

"Yeah! Sounds cool, don't it?"

"Er… Actually, not to me it doesn't… I don't really like the notion of battling…"

Warren raised a brow, smirking. "Oh? Are ya 'fraid o' battling, Max?"

"Afraid of getting hurt more specifically," I asserted. "I don't really care whether or not I'm a Pokémon, the idea of battling just repulses me…"

"If ya say so Max," the Pikachu said, shrugging. "Me and Matt was talkin' 'bout it, and we think that we could try an' see whut's whut. If ya wanna come _wif_ us…"

"…I'll pass, thanks."

"Eh, suit yerself."

After speaking with Warren, I walked back over to my side of the room. I just can't seem to get why the notion of battling intrigues him so much… He _does_ know that he could very easily get hurt, right? Does he even _see_ what kind of battles take place at the Trainer's Forum? I'm surprised that some of those attacks don't _kill_ anyone…

I loitered about in the lobby for a little while longer. Matthew seemed to be talking with Samantha and Mary now, Warren was leaning against the far wall, arms crossed with boredom, and Steve was…still not here. I reiterate: Where _is_ he?

…Well, whatever. He'll show up before we leave, I'm sure of it.

Sometime later, Mark walked into the lobby. From the looks of his slightly ruffled fur and strange angle of his ears, I'd say he only just woke up a few minutes ago. Nevertheless, we all cheerfully greeted the Lucario with cries of, "Good afternoon!" and so forth.

"Thanks guys," he said, and yawned. "Would you believe I actually slept in today? I was up all night helping out Brian with a few things he needed done…" Mark gently flattened some of the fur that was still fluffed-up with a paw. "...Anyway, how are you all doing? Ready to go check out the town?"

"You know it, bud!" Warren chimed. "We've been waitin' on ya! …Say, where's Frank? Isn't he takin' us there?"

Mark nodded. "He is. Frank is just trying to wake up Danny…again."

"Oh." Warren laughed. "That's not surprisin'…"

"…Say, Maxwell?" Mark asked, looking over to me. "You wouldn't have happened to see Steve around, have you?"

I shook my head. "No, I haven't… In honesty, I was kinda thinking he'd show up before we leave," I said.

"I see… Anyone else?"

Mary, Samantha and Warren all shook their heads. Matthew just shrugged.

"…Guess I'd better go find him then. Please excuse me," Mark said, then turned and headed out of the room. I suppose he probably went to check if Steve is in the room…

…It makes me wonder why Steve is taking so long to get here. Boy, what I wouldn't give to know what goes on in that guy's head...

* * *

_**Living Quarters SUB – PokéGene Inc.  
**__**Subject 003 / Name: Steve**_

I won't lie, I'm quite nervous. It's a strange thing to feel, nervousness. You feel completely powerless against whatever might come at you, even if there is nothing to come. In this case, I know exactly what is coming, and I can do nary a thing about it.

If yesterday's vision taught me anything, it's that there are millions of perspectives to look at life from. When I saw the two diminutive figures facing off against the single imposing one, I took it as a sign of imminent conflict. From another angle, I could see it more like symbolism; the figures could represent goals or ideas, not just physical beings.

…But that one emotion I felt during such vision assured me that it was to be taken at face value. That emotion would be…_fear._

I can't even begin to wonder this means, though. Could I honestly believe that I foresaw a scene from the future? Could these "two small beings" really end up in a position of danger? If only I could see more detail, then I could at least start to wonder who they even are…

One thing's for sure: It was definitely centered around, not Mark (as I originally believed), but…Maxwell. Somehow, it had shifted. But why? I can't even begin to…

…Unless…the two visions were not both the same thing…? Maybe, just _maybe_, both of my visions were separate instances? One belonging to Mark, and the other to Max? Perhaps, one was in the…and the other…

Hmm… I'll need to reflect on this some more before I can draw a conclusion… It's far too confusing...

In case you forgot, this vision had come to me twice. To reflect, in my first vision, I saw a pair of what appeared to be small, diminutive figures facing off against one large figure that seemed to imposingly stand over them. I can also remember seeing some sort of tool in its hands, and appeared ready to strike...

...And then, in my second vision, I basically saw the exact same thing. Even though I could not see the figures in much more detail than before (they seemed like blurred silhouettes really), I actually…heard something. I heard distinctive voices. Terrified voices, in fact. And extremely familiar ones.

Naturally, I neglected to tell both Warren and Maxwell about this, since it would no doubt have caused them worry. Though it does make me feel slightly guilty, I don't want to spoil our first outing to the Genta City Uptown area for them.

…Speaking of which…

"Steve? You in here—oh, there you are."

Suddenly snapping to my senses, I looked back to where the voice originated. It was Mark, having just come in through the sliding mechanical door. He seemed relieved to see me. "Yes, Mark?" I asked. "What is it?"

"The others were wondering about where you were," the Lucario explained. "Are you busy with something?"

"Nothing much really," I replied. "I was merely contemplating the recent goings-on. Is it nearly time for the trip?"

He nodded. "Almost, right as soon as Frank wakes up D—"

"**AAAAAAAAAOOOOOOGGGH!"**

"…What in the name of Arceus was _that?"_ I exclaimed, trying to figure out where that shout came from. But I _did_ have a shrewd idea who…

"I…don't really know," Mark admitted, casting a look around curiously.

The explanation soon came in the form of a sopping-wet Danny, who ran past the open doorway of the Living Quarters while screaming, "YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO WAKE ME UP BY POURING A BUCKET OF _ICE_ ON MY FACE, FRANK!"

"It worked, didn't it?" the voice of Frank answered, and he soon passed the doorway as well, holding an empty bucket and smiling smugly.

"…That would explain the scream earlier quite well," I finally said. Now I've _truly_ seen everything the world has to offer…

Mark nodded while stifling laughter. "And _how_. I suppose we should get going, hm?"

"Yes, of course…"

As I followed Mark out the doorway and downstairs to the lobby, I began to wonder if I _should_ tell the others about those voices. I couldn't tell what one of the voices was, but it sounded frightened of something. The other one…it was much more familiar. But I'm afraid that if I say it…well…

…Let me just assure you that it won't exactly make Maxwell feel any better about his situation.

* * *

_**Lobby - PokéGene Inc.  
**__**Subject 004 / Name: Mary**_

"So where should we go in town?" I asked Samantha. "The Uptown is pretty big. I think it would be a good idea to know where we'd want to go, right?"

She looked at the ceiling in thought. "Um… Maybe we could just walk around the Park area? It's pretty nice this time of year after all…"

"…Yeah, that _does_ sound good," I agreed. Thinking for a moment, I looked over to Matthew. "What about you, Matt? Was there someplace you were thinking of going?"

The Snivy shrugged, as if he didn't care. "Not specifically. But Warren was yapping on about the Trainer's Forum, so I agreed to go with him there. Eh, might be a _slightly_ interesting thing to go see..."

"Oh, I see... Well, uh…" At this point, I wasn't really sure what else to talk about. We'd already gone and talked about everything from the upcoming trip to why the sky is blue… When are we actually going to be leaving? It's been more than an hour already…

"**AAAAAAAAAOOOOOOGGGH!"**

…What the…

"What the hell was _that?"_ Matthew said quickly, darting his gaze down the hallway the shout echoed from. The others, myself included, also uttered words of astonishment and turned towards the source.

Within minutes, Danny and Frank both finally entered the Lobby. As soon as I saw them both, somehow I instantly knew what had happened. Danny was shivering like mad, not to mention soaked, and Frank was holding an empty bucket in his hand.

"So, is everyone ready?" Frank asked us all.

I nodded. "We've been waiting for ages, of course we're ready!"

"At…at least until Steve gets back," Samantha commented, looking a tad worried.

Frank eyed us curiously. "Steve? Is he not here? I thought everyone was already present and ready to go…"

"We're coming!"

"…Hm?" Frank turned to look back down the hallway. Much to our relief, both Steve and Mark were just now walking into the lobby. "Oh, there you two are. Where was Steve?"

"In the room," Mark replied simply. "He said he was just busy thinking through some things, and I guess he lost track of time or something."

Steve shrugged, then quietly said, "Forgive me, but I do tend to let my mind wander…"

Frank nodded. "I understand. Well, now that we're here, perhaps we can get underway." He cleared his throat, and then went on. "I've asked Marilyn to drive us in the facility's van to the Uptown area. Specifically, we'll be going to the park first, as it should provide a good starting area for our little escapade."

Me and Samantha both looked at each other and smiled at the fortunate coincidence.

"We'll spend some time there, then we'll each get to break into groups and tour around the Uptown for…let's say a couple of hours. Maybe two or three. After that, we'll meet back up at the park and then head back here. How does that sound?"

"I-it sounds great!" Maxwell piped up, arms crossed behind his back and smiling. "I really appreciate that we can finally do this! It'll be nice to get out for some fresh air…"

Frank offered a gentle laugh, and waved his hand modestly. "It's no trouble at all, Max. Really. We're just trying to make you all happy and comfortable."

"…Thanks for your consideration," Danny spitefully remarked, still shivering. Why did he seem so…cold? It's actually really warm indoors… Oh…right, I nearly forget about the "him-being-soaked" deal… Was it really the only way to get that guy awake?

"Ah-hah… Well, I didn't necessarily mean _you_ Danny, but you're welcome nonetheless."

"…"

"…Regardless, shall we all depart?"

It all seemed to go really quickly from there. We were led out of the building into the facility's parking lot, walked over to the van (which had _clearly_ seen better days…) and were herded inside. From there, the secretary lady Marilyn, whom I hadn't even seen for a long while, drove us out of the lot and down the road towards Genta City.

It wasn't exactly a 'comfortable' ride though. Not necessarily because the van dated back a couple of decades, but because there weren't very many available seats. Since the front two were occupied by Marilyn and Frank, and the middle two taken by Danny and Mark, that only left a three-seated area in the back. The six of us ended up divided into pairs in order to compensate…which meant that two of us each had to share a seatbelt.

I ended up paired with (and pretty much tied to) Warren, whilst Samantha was joined up with Steve, and Maxwell had the misfortune to be paired with Matthew. It was pretty awkward, really…

"Aww, man… Why'd I hafta be paired wif a gurl?" Warren whined, sinking back into his seat and groaning with defeat.

I wasn't sure if was mad or embarrassed by that comment, but I couldn't help but flush red in the face.

Matthew was grumbling something under his breath for a moment, and then snapped a slight glare at the Oshawott tied to him. "I do NOT enjoy this, I would like to point out."

"The feeling is mutual, 'bro'," Maxwell shot back, reciprocating the look.

"Hey now kids," Frank said, turning his head back to look at us, "don't make me come back there. It's only for a short while, mind you."

I sighed. "I just wish that this road didn't have so many—"

_**THUMP!**_

The car seemed to jump suddenly, startling me and the others for the twentieth time as we hit yet another bump.

"…Speed bumps. Ugh…"

* * *

_**Genta City Outskirts – Route 180  
**__**Subject 006 / Name: Maxwell**_

The ride to Genta City was exactly as tense as it seemed. I was still very excited, and I couldn't help but want to look out the window of the van and see all the trees and occasional building fly by. I wasn't exactly tall enough to see over the edge of the window though, so I couldn't determine our _exact_ location. The sun was up high in the afternoon sky, which was as blue as blue could be. Come to think of it, it was the same shade of blue that my body was… Huh, neat.

…With all the excitement, how could I _not_ be enjoying this? Well, for one, I was buckled up with Matthew. And by buckled, I mean that the seatbelt was freaking _tying us together._ Ugh. Sure, we and Matt may be friends now, but it was…more than a little awkward. Not that we had much of a choice, since there weren't many seats...

The others weren't much better off in their respective pairs (Warren and Mary, Samantha and Steve), so at least I wasn't alone in this rather compromising position. Any casual observer might snicker if they saw the way things were arranged.

Oh, and that was on top of the—_**THUMP!**__—s_peed bumps. Or were they just potholes? What does it matter…

But, thank the merciful god that it didn't last that long. In minutes I was able to notice that the number of buildings whizzing by the van window started to outmatch the trees, and it wasn't long until I came to the conclusion the others were starting to come to: We'd finally arrived in Genta City. The capital of Pæin, and my so-called "hometown". It certainly seemed much more imposing, me just being a Pokémon now, but apart from size it hadn't changed much in terms of layout. Just the same old burg that I remember.

We soon reached the Uptown area—the "new" area of town that's certainly a lot better looking than the dilapidated Oldtown area. Uptown is technically the "Downtown" of Genta City, but everyone calls it Uptown because it matches the place's image: clean and upscale.

"We're nearly there, guys!" I heard the cheery voice of Marilyn say. "We've just entered the Uptown area of Genta, so…I'd say that the park would be about only…four or so minutes away. Almost there!"

"_Only_ four?" Warren asked, with a hint of a rhetorical tone easily detectable. "Gah, it can't be soon enuff…"

I heard the sound of snapping fingers, accompanied by a cry of "Aha!" To everyone else's and my own confusion, it was _Danny_ who did it. "Why don't we put on some…uh…?" Everyone was staring at him now, myself included. He was clearly being put on the spot. "Um…err…maybe we should…put on some music? On the radio?"

"…" Frank shrugged. "I don't see why not. Though, I have to wonder why you did not suggest that earlier…"

Danny cast a quick glance back at us, then at Frank. "Er…nobody else asked…"

I face-pawed. Well, I suppose it _would've_ been nicer had that trend been started beforehand. It would've kept our minds off of the rather embarrassing situation we were currently in…

Frank chuckled heartily. "Well, alright then. Let me just get the radio on…there!"

Instantly, sound filled the van. Apparently, whatever station the radio was tuned into had just started playing a new song. It sounded like the beginning riff of a guitar, signaling a 'rock-n-roll' song, but then it kicked in with what sounded to be an up-tempo piano, then back into the guitar. That's when the lyrics started to sound.

"**_The Paradise Special's pullin' into the station,  
_**_**Hurry up, gotta get on board!  
**__**Adventure is the ticket to our destination,  
**__**Come on, now don't be slow!  
**__**Here we go on down the track,  
**__**This Paradise Special's movin' down the track!"**_

"Hey!" Warren said suddenly. "I know this song! I used ta listen to it all the time!" He put a paw to his chin. "Eh... Whut wuz it call'd again…? Uh…"

"**_Half the fun of travel's just the journey there,  
_**_**Lighten up and enjoy the show!  
**__**We're gonna make it now with hours to spare,  
**__**Hey don't you hear the whistle blow?  
**__**Moanin' low, the wheels talk back,  
**__**Raisin' a racket like a yakity yak!**_

_**Now we're goin' in style, let's start wearin' a smile!  
**__**Life keeps gettin' better all the time! So much better…  
**__**Takin' the Paradise Line!"**_

"Ah! That's it!" Warren said abruptly, slamming a furry fist onto an open palm. "_'The Paradise Line'!_ Yeah! I luv this song!"

I didn't doubt that this genre of music would appeal to Warren. It just seemed to…I dunno, _fit_ him. But, well, it _is_ kind of catchy… It has a nice riff to it…

"**_Now the locomotive's steamin' like a runaway,  
_**_**So come on, let's rock and roll!  
**__**And by this time tomorrow we'll be so far away,  
**__**If there's one thing that I know!  
**__**Then I know, it won't be back,  
**__**Paradise Special's never comin' back!**_

_**Just relax for a while, watch the world goin' by!  
**__**Just as long as we're together we'll be fine! We'll be fine…  
**__**Takin' the Paradise Line!**_

_**Life is fine, on the Paradise Line!  
**__**You and I, on the Paradise Line!**_

_**Life is fine, on the Paradise Line!  
**__**You and I, on the Paradise Line!**_

_**Wave your troubles goodbye, leave your sadness behind!  
**__**We can ride away forever you and I! Yeah forever…**_

_**Takin' the Paradise Line!**_

_**Takin' the Paradise Line!**_

_**Takin' the Paradise Line!"**_

The song finally played on through the outro and ended, and I finally stopped swaying my feet to the music. I hadn't really intended to do so in the first place, but hey, it _was_ pretty catchy… And for whatever reason the lyrics seemed to match our current car ride. …Well, the van wasn't exactly a _train_ per se, but the other bits made sense in context. Well..._some_ of them did at least...

I felt another bump as the van ran over something, but it didn't seem like a speed bump; in fact, we were also making a hard right turn. And not even thirty seconds later, the van slowed before coming to rest somewhere. Frank clicked off the radio as Marilyn cheerfully announced, "We're here, everyone!"

It took me a moment to process what was going on, but then I finally realized that we must've just pulled into some kind of parking lot for the park. We'd finally made it! "Finally!" I couldn't help but say out loud. At last, the car ride was finished. Perhaps now we could finally get on with this 'outing' thing?

As the adults were already unbuckling their seat restraints, I quickly followed the suit. I allowed myself a fresh breath of air as soon as I was free (as the belts were rather tight on my lungs, I found). "Phew… I didn't think I could stand another minute of being tied to _that_ guy… It's slightly less appealing than being forced to eat a Magikarp." I've eaten Magikarp flambé before. It's exactly as unappetizing as it sounds…

"…Tch." Matthew crossed his arms and looked off in some other direction, his face contorted into a scowl. Apparently, my comment must have struck a nerve. Touchy, touchy…

The others were just as glad to be out of the van at last, so after unbuckling ourselves and vacating the vehicle along with the adults (and Danny), we arranged into a little group outside the entrance of the park. Frank briefly reminded us as to be on our best behavior (he was _especially_ firm on this point with Matthew), and then the ten of us finally entered.

It was, in a single-word description, gorgeous. Genta City really knows how to keep its parks clean. In fact, there were a few signs to that effect here and there. The grass was a vibrant shade of viridian, the flowers were all of many pallets of red and yellows and purples, and the water of a nearby pond was blue as blue could be…

"…Wow," was all I could manage to say. I've never been to this park before, admittedly. But now that I finally got to see it…well, let's just say that the earlier van ride instantly became justified.

The others shared my sense of wonder—except for Matthew, who just stared at some bush with an aloof expression, but that should be expected by this point in time. "It's so pretty!" Mary commented, eyes taking in the sights. "Just like I remember from my earlier years…" She sighed. "Those were…better times…"

"…" Steve said nothing, but I can ascertain from the way his mouth was hanging open that he was impressed by the sight as well. Who wouldn't be? …Again, besides Matt.

Before long, we broke into small groups to explore the parkland while Frank, Marilyn and Danny stayed near the entrance area (I'm not sure where Mark went). I ended up walking along a pathway with Warren, mainly because I secretly wanted to ask him again about what he and Matt were discussing about my dreams and Steve's visions. I just _know_ he's holding something back…

…But I promptly forgot about that goal. Something else demanded my attention. Our little walk happened to take us near the edge of the park, and I could see off the left of us a large forest. A pretty thick one, too. It just seemed to get darker and darker as you looked at it…

Wait a minute… That forest looks awfully familiar… Where have I last seen…?

"Hot dang, this place looks great! Lookit all the greenery and trees and stuff! I haven't seen a park like this in mah _life_," Warren commented, gazing at the nature around him with sparkling eyes. "The fields, that there forest, the lil' pond o'er there… It's like…sumfin' outta a dream… Yeah, like—eh? Maxwell? What s'matter with ya?"

He noticed that I wasn't following him anymore, and the Pikachu gave me a weird look as I continued staring off into space. "This…this place," I murmured. "I…I know this place…"

"Ya-wh-huh?" Warren sputtered, confused as to what I was implying.

"I dunno… It's like…déjà-vu or something…" I felt my stomach twist with anxiety. Something about this place seemed a little…off. Not in a bad way, but it was as if nostalgia itself was slapping my face. With a fish. (And no sooner had I thought that I suddenly felt really hungry…)

But no amount of nostalgia could've prepared me for what happened after that.

"_Oh! Hello, friend!"_ a tiny voice abruptly called out from behind me, and I froze up. It can't be… That voice…

Warren looked behind me to see what had said that, and then gently smiled. "Oh, Max! This a friend o' yers?"

"Uh… Who?" I nervously mumbled, and slowly turned to face the source of the little voice. I couldn't believe my eyes. "It's… It's _you!_"

"_You came back, friend! You came to play with me?"_ the little Pokémon that had spoken (in PokéSpeak, mind you (though I could understand regardless)) asked, playfully nudging my stomach.

It can't be the same one…can it? But…that's…impossible…isn't it?

"_My momma was so happy when you helped me get out of the scary woods! I was soooo scared! Eeek! But then you came and helped me, friend!"_

No way. It can't be. But…it is. "…Is…is that you? Caterpie?"

The little bug Pokémon nodded briskly. _"Of course it's me! You remember, right? Y-you came to play with me, right?"_

Warren must've been as lost as a coal miner with no headlamp, since he walked up beside me and stared at the little caterpillar like it was from outer space. He cast a sideways glance at me. "Max… Uh… What's the deal here? Wanna fill me in?"

"Um…" I bit my lip gently, and timidly crossed my arms behind my back. "…Remember that first dream I had? The one with the creepy, omnipotent voice?"

The Pikachu looked upwards in thought. His face gradually illustrated his realization as the details came back to him. "Y-yeah?"

"…And there was the Caterpie I saved from the forest?"

"Wait…ya don't mean…"

I nodded. "Yep… This…this is that very same Caterpie."

Caterpie, as excitable as he was, took a lot of interest in the 'newcomer'. _"Oh! Who's that, friend? Is he also your friend, friend? Do you think he can be my friend too, friend?"_ And on and on he went with similar sounding questions that quickly confused me to no end…

"Sl-slow down!" I exclaimed, waving both my arms around to try and settle down the kid.

Thankfully, he listened to me and quieted down, which allowed me to start answering his questions.

"Okay… First off, you don't have to call me 'friend' all the time. Just call me Max. Secondly, this is my…" I wasn't exactly sure how to word that. What exactly IS Warren to me? A friend? Definitely. Confidant? Sure. But he's also something a bit more than that…

"…He's my brother," I said at last, placing a paw on Warren's shoulder and smiling. We each swapped a look. He seemed rather…_touched_ by what I said. "Well… Golly, Max… I never thought that ya thought o' me like that…"

"Well it's true, right? We stick up for each other," I said to him, still grinning. "That, and you're a lot better company than Matthew. No offense to him, but you're more…_trustworthy._" I put emphasis on 'trustworthy', just enough to try and send a subtle indication to him of what I was getting at. But, I guess it just sailed over his head, as he simply blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Aw, knock it off… Yer makin' me blush…"

I held back the urge to roll my eyes and instead looked back at Caterpie, who was eying us both with a hint of…could it be envy? _"Wow… You seem so much better than _my_ brothers…and sisters…"_

"Why's that?" Warren asked, raising a brow curiously.

"_Well, they…they like to make fun of me a lot, just because I'm scared of the dark! And that I'm small! It makes me really sad when they do it…"_

"Oh…"

"_And none of my brothers…they…"_ Caterpie started to sniffle, and tears welled up in his eyes. _"N-none of them…want…to play with meeeeeee!" _

And before I knew it, the little bug Pokémon had threw itself at me and started to cry onto the shell on my stomach. Albeit with a little hesitation, I wrapped my arms around Caterpie to give him another reassuring hug, like I did in that dream…

_"Don't worry, I'm here. I'll help you. You can trust me—as a friend."_

_"T-Thank you… Friend…"_

…Only it was no dream. That dawning moment of comprehension finally awakened inside me. The dream…actually happened! I was there, in the forest! That light…with the strange Pokémon within…did I actually talk to it? In person? In that case, wouldn't the dream this morning be real as well…? I-if the Mystic Water was real, then...

"…Caterpie," I asked at last, looking around the field of green, "where's your mother? Butterfree? Isn't she here? If your siblings won't play with you, then what about her?"

The bug Pokémon suddenly seized up. _"Oh… M-m-mommy? Um… S-she…she's…"_ He started getting all teary-eyed again, and looked up into the cloud-filled sky. _"M-mommy is…not here…she…uh…"_

"She's…where? Is she out picking berries, or something?"

"…" Caterpie said nothing; he just looked at the ground and cried for a moment before raising his head to look back towards the forest. "_W-we were at our tree... It was okay, for a bit...then...there… Th-there was a bad man… H-he… he…"_

I looked over to Warren, who already seemed to get the message, as his expression turned quite grim. My own expression fell, and a very bad image wormed its way into my imagination. "D-did…did something happen to her?" I asked, although I was terrified to hear the answer I knew I would hear.

Caterpie whimpered and cried some more, still looking at the sky for whatever reason, then finally found enough nerve to say what I had feared. _"Mommy is…sleeping…"_

The young caterpillar decided to put it in that innocent little euphemism, but it somehow seemed _worse_ than a straight answer. His mom is...sleeping? Does Caterpie mean that literally, or...or does he mean something...else...? B-but...how could such a thing... No, I don't believe it...

Caterpie sniffled, and tears were practically pouring out of his eyes. Somehow, he managed not to start bawling, but he was getting dangerously close. _"He...was going to take her away... A-and a bunch of other Pokémon too... But she tried to fight him, and...and he...he..."_

"..." I cast another look towards Warren. He was looking at the ground, a paw placed to his temple as he shook his head. I looked back to the sniveling Caterpie, and felt almost painfully sick to my stomach. "She...she couldn't seriously have been...?"

"_...That bad man...he...he hurt... Oh, m-m-mommy..."_ His voice became more and more unsteady._ "Why, mommy...? Why...why did you have to leave me all alone..."_

It's almost impossible for me to think about... I...I can still remember this Caterpie's mom from that dream...how they both were reunited after leaving the forest...

_"Caterpie! My little darling! I'd thought I lost you! Oh, heavens above, where were you?"_

_"M-M-Mommy... I-I...thought I'd n-n-never...s-see you a-again... It was s-so s-s-s-scary..."_

_"It's okay, sweetie... You're safe now..."_

...how she thanked me profusely for saving her baby...

_"You were the one who saved my precious baby?"_

_"Uh, yeah... I suppose I did. It was really no trouble at all—"_

_"Oh, _thank_ you! Thank you so much! I'm so grateful! I can't thank you enough!"_

_"Umm... That's...okay... I just thought it would be a nice thing to do is all..."_

_"You're too modest! Who knows what could've happened to my baby in there all alone! I am in your debt!"_

...I suppose now she can't make good on her 'debt'... But...how could such a thing happen? It all seemed so peaches and cream when I saw them last...so, whatever happened must've taken place very recently... And then there was this 'bad man'...did he...? N-no...that's just...not right...

Without thinking, I slowly pulled Caterpie into another hug and patted his back as he quietly sobbed into my shell again…

…I really should get that thing cleaned sometime.

* * *

_**Genta City Uptown – Parkland  
**__**Subject 005 / Name: Matthew**_

"…Let me just make sure I'm listening right," I said with utter disbelief, throwing Warren the best stare I could manage that showed I was pretty damn confused. "You and Maxwell actually _found_ a Caterpie that the otter-boy dreamed about saving the other night? Which basically guarantees it was _real_?_"_

The Pikachu nodded, and I couldn't help but let my eye twitch. We were talking behind an old oak tree somewhere near the center of the park, since Warren had pretty much dragged me over here to talk with me. I leaned to the side a tiny bit, looking past the tree, and saw the otter-boy in the distance apparently playing some kind of game with that stupid worm. Gah. The sight was enough to make me want to gag.

"And then you say that _you just picked up the Caterpie and decided to bring him with you?"_ I spat, raising my voice. "And now you're going to ask Frank if it's okay for that insect to LIVE with us?"

"W-whut was we s'pposed ta do?" he defended, throwing his arms up. "Let 'im starve? Get beat up by wild Pokémon? The poor thang's suffer'd enuff!"

I sneered. "You _could_ have just taken that ugly thing back to its mom, or something! Jeez, isn't that _kind of_ the obvious thing to do?"

Warren's expression suddenly hardened into a glare. "…Matthew, are ya really _that_ stupid?"

"…Stupid?" Alright, that last word tapped a nerve in me alright. With a mallet. "Who the _hell_ are you calling stupid!" I shouted, jamming a finger right in his face. "_You're_ the stupid one! I just said that you should've taken that worm back to its mum! Is that SO hard to understand?"

He slapped my pointing hand away and practically screamed, "HIS MOTHER _DIED,_ MATTHEW! SHE'S GONE! HE'S AN ORPHAN NOW, FER MEW'S SAKE!"

"…"

"…"

"…Well, you should have said so earlier." I may have replied a little _too_ coolly to that outburst. I swear I saw a few nerves twitching on Warren's temple.

"Fer the love-a—!" He slapped his face with a paw and shook his head something like twenty times before calming down a slight enough amount to just _look_ straight. "Matt, whut else could we've done? That Caterpie is _really_ attached to Maxwell, and it'd be heartbroken even worse if he jus' left 'im there! The poor thang's _own __brothers and sisters_ don't even care about 'im!"

"…" I let out a sigh. As much as I wanted to keep up this argument (c'mon, he wants to practically adopt a baby _worm_), that stupid 'nice side' was starting to kick in again. Damn you, morality. "…Whatever. If otter-boy is fine with it, and as long as Frank's fine with it…then I guess I'm fine with it as well."

Well, that seemed like enough to satisfy him (maybe only _just_), since Warren finally cooled down and suggested we get going. So, hating myself a little bit more, I went back with him to pay the otter-boy and his little "pal" a visit.

"Oh, hey Matthew," Max said when we approached, and turned to face me. The little caterpillar thing looked at me as well. Guh, disgusting… "So, has Warren…?"

"…" I sighed. What I wouldn't give for a can of bug repellant right about now… "Yes, we discussed this…_friend_ of yours at length," I told him, barely repressing the desire to refer to that Pokémon as an 'ugly green worm'. "And…yes, I'm fine with it staying with us, AS LONG AS Frank is fine with it too. And to a lesser extent Brian, when he comes back."

"Oh, Frank _already_ said yes," Maxwell informed me a little _too_ casually, seeming to be holding back a smirk. "He said that as long as all of us will accept him into our family, then he has no complaints. You were the only one left we needed to convince; Mary, Samantha, and Steve all said yes."

"_S-so does this mean you're _all_ my friends now?"_ the Caterpie said, its squeaky voice raising a few more octaves than my eardrums would've preferred. _"I…I'm so happy! Friends, friends!"_

…Of course. I should have seen something like that coming. But really, just how stupid is this "family"? Let us take care of an orphaned BUG? What a load of crap… "J-just _please_ don't ask me to change its diaper or something!" I said, sounding sarcastic even though I actually meant it. "I don't want to be around that thing too much, okay? Bugs…frankly, they sicken me."

Both Warren and the otter-boy fired me a harsh look. Perhaps I should have been less honest. But hey, I can't necessarily help myself… Me and bugs never have gotten along, mainly because they, well, _bug_ me.

Anyhow, with all that junk out of the way, I was free to tour the park on my own. I had _no_ intention of being near that bug, and since those two guys were all over that thing, then I'd rather be somewhere far away. _Very_ far away. In fact, I actually walked all the way over to the farthest edge of the park.

All the while I walked, the sun beamed overhead me, harshly casting those rays of radiation that people say you shouldn't be exposed to for long. Well, it didn't exactly bother me anymore; if anything, it actually felt _really_ nice and refreshing. Empowering, almost. Again, being a Grass Pokémon has some rather sweet perks.

At the furthest edge of the park, there was this 4-foot-something wall made of concrete that separated the park from the rest of the Uptown. From what I gather, it runs in a big square around the park, with the city surrounding it. There was a nearby bench propped up against the wall, so I thought it would a fun idea to hop up on top and peek over the top of the wall.

I was instantly greeted by the sight of the Uptown, and boy was it ever _busy_. Cars driving by on the road almost one after the other, people clogging up the sidewalks in a similar way to a fat guy's arteries…yeah, it was hectic all right. I caught sight of a little girl being led through the crowd by her mother's hand, and no sooner did I see her than she saw me as well.

"Mommy, mommy!" she squealed, making my ears ache with her annoyingly high pitch. "It's a Pokémon! A Pokémon, mommy! Look, mommy!"

I could hear the mom reply with a slightly-less-than-interested tone, "That's nice, dear."

"But mommy! Look! It's a Pokémon! On the fence, and stuff! Mommy, mommy!"

Getting a rather sneaky idea, I called out loud, "And a toodle-dee-hoo to you too, girl!"

I got the response I desired. "MOMMY, MOMMY! THAT POKÉMON WAS TALKING, MOMMY! LOOK, MOMMY!"

"That's nice, dear," I heard the mother respond again in that same bored tone as I climbed down from the wall, snickering to myself. There was a certain psychotic pleasure to messing around with a little kid's head. Heh heh heh…

But it wasn't long before I got bored again, so I wondered exactly what I should do next. Against my better judgment, I thought it would be a good idea to see what the others were doing. Why not? …Oh right. That bug is with them. Nrgh. Whatever…

I eventually found my way back to the area near the park entrance, where we first came in. And the first thing that I heard? Laughing. From five separate sources. Yep, the whole gang's here. They were all playing either in or around the pond.

The otter-boy and Mary had taken to swimming around in the water, while Samantha and Warren were talking with that Caterpie (Yuck…), and Steve was…meditating by the shore, I suppose. I climbed atop one of the large rocks on the shore, which gave me a nice view of the pond area. Directly below where I was now, as the rock overlooked the pond directly, I noticed that Maxwell was swimming a little bit close by…

…Close _enough_, as a matter of fact…

"Hmm…" Once again, a sadistic little scheme filled my head. Just _where_ do I come up with this stuff? Ohohoho… It's time for a little "fishing".

I used that neat little trick I taught myself the day before, Vine Whip, and made one of my vine-like tendrils descend toward the water's surface where otter-boy was about to pass. I just _love_ how those vine things are so easily controllable. It's like a second set of arms! Yet _another_ perk to list down…

Finally, Max not only came past the area where my extended "trap-vine" was waiting, but he _stopped_ as well. Oh, how totally oblivious he was to my little prank…

"This water is really nice!" the otter-boy said, looking over at Warren. "Hey, Warren? Samantha? Sure you don't wanna come in for a bit, too?"

"Ah'll pass, Max," the Pikachu replied, waving a paw dismissively. "I'd have a heckuva time gettin' the water outta my fur anyway…"

Samantha shook her head. "Nah, I'll…I'll pass as well. I…just don't really like swimming that much…"

Maxwell shrugged, still unawares of the vine creeping up behind him. "Well, if you say so. I guess I'll just—" And before the otter-boy could finish that sentence, I sprang into action. Almost as fast as he could blink, I reached for his tail and quickly wrapped around it tightly with my outstretched vine. Milliseconds later, I yanked him, tail-first, out of the pond. "WAAAAAAH!"

I mainly ignored his shouts of shock and anger, hauling him upside-down into the air so that everyone present could see. And then, just to salt the wound a little more, I shouted, in my best (or perhaps worst) imitation of Warren's accent, "Hay, every'un! I dun caughts me a _big_ one!"

Cue a round of laughter from everyone present. Heck, I think I even managed to tickle _Steve's_ funny bone. Warren didn't seem to even _care_ I mocked him openly with the accent deal, since he had fallen over and was holding his gut from laughing so hard. Oh, how sweet victory tastes.

"…This is payback for that comment I made earlier, isn't it?" Maxwell asked me, still dangling helplessly from the vine.

I let a coy smile form on my face. "Oh? No, I'm just having a little fun with you," I said coolly. Then I let go of the otter-boy's tail. "_This_ is for that comment earlier."

It happened quickly after that. A quick scream. Then a splash. And some more laughter, much of it my own. Life was good for a moment. Then something happened that I _didn't_ expect.

"_HEY! You leave my friend alone, Meanie!"_

I turned to face whoever spoke, and was slightly taken aback. It was that bug that otter-boy and Warren had taken a shine to. And it was actually _angry_ at me. Eh, but what do I care what a worm thinks? "Eww, go away. I thought I said to keep your distance, bug. Go on, shoo," I said, waving a hand to ward it off.

But that stubborn worm wouldn't have it. _"You're not being very nice to friend! It's very mean! Please stop it!"_

"…Look, I was just messing around with otter-boy. Jeez, don't get in a tizzy about it, worm."

He was getting madder; I could tell, since his face was getting redder. _"I-I'm not a worm! And my friend isn't an 'otter-boy'! Stop calling us names!"_

"Oh yeah?" I challenged, arching a brow. "Then make me. Worm."

It was then that I thought, 'Whatever happened to that indecisive "nice side" of mine?' Apparently, on the one occasion it wasn't barking in my mind's ear, I actually kind of missed it. If I had actually paid attention to it when it _should've_ gone off in my head, then I wouldn't be in the situation I would be in now. And what situation was that?

…Well, have you ever had sticky goop sprayed at your face?

"MMMMMPH!" …That was all I could say, as that stupid Caterpie had sprayed this awful, horribly sticky webbing at my face, totally obscuring my vision. Not to mention cutting off my air supply.

I could not see anything that was going on, much less call out for assistance (like I even would, anyway), so I tried pulling the stringy stuff off my face. It was in vain, however. Heck, I couldn't even hear what was going out there, it all sounded so muffled…

…Well, they _eventually_ managed to get that stuff off of my head, thank god. I won't say how long and arduous it was, mainly since it would be…detrimental to my dignity. That Caterpie from then on kept giving me this unnerving glare whenever it looked in my general direction, and then would huddle up next to otter-boy or Warren. Oh well. I don't like it, it doesn't like me back. The feeling is mutual.

Our little escapade in the park soon ended, however. We'd spent an hour and a half here, and frankly, I couldn't think of a better time to leave. The adults (Frank, Marilyn, Danny, and to a lesser extent Mark) were all waiting for us back at the entrance of the park. Heh, I guess I could say it was lucky that they _weren't_ supervising us that much, since I wouldn'tve been able to pull off that little joke of mine on otter-boy earlier…

"Well now, did we all have fun?" Frank asked us as we were led back to the van.

"It was…eventful, to be sure," Mary said, rubbing her head with uneasiness.

Warren stifled a chuckle as he replied with, "An' that lil' scene earlier was funny as all heck, too!"

The scientist cast a look back at us, his smile not wavering. Then he calmly inquired, "What did Matt do?" Y'know, I _really_ love how he can tell if I did something without even witnessing it…

"Oh, Matt strung up Max by the tail wif his Vine Whip while he was swimmin'… An' it was purty funny too!" The Pikachu laughed again. I admit that I laughed at that memory as well, 'cause hey, it _was_ pretty good… "Ah, but then Caterpie here got real mad 'bout it, so he tagged Matt in the face wit' String Shot. I reckon it took us a good ten minutes ta geddit off! Heheh, boy was that ever amusin'…"

Frank shook his head and chuckled. "Well, I'll let Matthew off easy this time then. I hope he's _learned_ something from this event."

Oh, did I _ever_. And that is, to never underestimate an angry worm. In addition to not letting your guard down as well…

"Speaking of Caterpie, I hope that everyone can get along with him just fine. Maxwell, Warren, I fully expect you both to take care of him. That Caterpie is still very young, after all."

"R-right! I will!" the otter-boy replied, doing a tiny salute. "I promised I would look after him, since his mom is…not around anymore. Me and Warren will take care of Caterpie, I swear!"

"Hey, speakin' o' which…" Warren rubbed his chin with thought. "Maybe we oughta give Caterpie a name or somethin'! Whaddaya think, buddy?"

"_Um…okay! If my friends think so, then sure! It's a great idea!"_ the worm replied. Ugh, I can't get over that thing still…

Max nodded, and put a paw to his temple in consideration. "Huh… I suppose that's a good idea. But what should he be named? It's not like there are many ideal names for a Caterpie… Hm, how about…well, he's colored green, so maybe… Viridi? As in 'Viridian'?

"…Huh, that actually ain't a half-bad idea," Warren mused, cracking a smile. "It ain't exactly a normal name, but that's whut makes it unique, right? Yeah! 'Viridi'… It's got a "ring" to it."

'Viridi'? My _god_. It took a lot of self-control to not object to that. I didn't speak up since I honestly don't give a flying ding-dong about that thing. They can call it anything they want to; it'll always be "worm" to me…

"_I-it sounds really nice! Um, I think! 'Viridi'! …Is that my new name, friend?"_

"You bet it is," otter-boy replied. "I guess we can consider you another little member of our family!"

Oh god, please tell me I wasn't hearing this. I have to put up with it from _here on out?_ Honest to Arceus, WHY did I ever agree to this? …Oh, right. My 'nice side'. The one that wasn't quite "nice" enough to tell me not to provoke that Caterpie, so I could've avoided having my head covered with sticky silk. Why do I have the nagging feeling that this 'voice' might just be my karma talking?

I guess it only proves my belief that fate has a bad sense of humor…

* * *

_**Genta City Uptown – Trainer's Forum  
**__**Subject 001 / Name: Warren**_

"So this…is the Trainer's Forum?" Matthew asked me, castin' a look 'round the whole field.

I nodded. "Yep, looks like it…"

"…" He frowned, and raised an eyebrow. "Then why is it so _empty?"_

Ah'll admit, I was wonderin' that myself. The entirety o' the whole dang place was…well, jus' 'bout _empty_. An' it was probably the size o' a full-on baseball stadium, too! Huh, ah'm startin' to wunder if it was a good idea to come here…

"It's normally not this busy around this time of year," Frank said suddenly. "Usually, it only gets _really_ busy around the time of the Pokémon World Championships. In fact, I'm pretty sure this forum was only constructed _because_ of such a yearly event. I know that the first few Championships were held elsewhere, but the League decided to move it to Pæin for whatever reason. I'm not exactly savvy about what the Pokémon League is into nowadays, but I'm pretty sure they wanted the competition to be in a place remote and relatively peaceful. Perhaps the problems with all these "Team whatever" incidents from Kanto to Hoenn to Unova unnerved them a little too much…"

"…I'll say," Matthew quietly murmur'd, lookin' to the side.

Wif a sigh, I looked up at Frank. "So whut yer sayin' is…no one's here? And no one's gonna _be_ here?" I asked, gettin' more an' more disappointed. Jeez, jus' when I thought that we'd get ta see somefin' interestin'…

"I never said that," Frank clarified, shruggin' his shoulders. "Trainers come here on a daily basis. Sometimes they are here, sometimes they are not…" He look'd up, and suddenly pointed somewhere. "Oh, well, it would seem that there _is_ someone here. Over there, on the bleachers, see?"

Me an' Matt both look'd, and, as Frank jus' pointed out, there was a kid sittin' onda bleachers by the field. It looked like a teenager wif glasses an a red coat o' sorts. He seem'd ta be readin' and 'ccasionally writin' in sum kinda notebook.

"...Perhaps, he came to see if any trainers would come by today?" Frank s'ggested. "Though, judging from the book, I would say that he was looking for a quiet place to write..."

In case it weren't obvious, me, Matt, an' Frank had cum here ta the Trainer's Forum. I was hopin' there'd be somefin' excitin' goin' on here, but the way it's lookin' now...it jus' kinda made me wish I went wif Max ta the nearby strip mall. He, Steve, Danny an' Mark all went there, y'see. Mary, Sam, and Marilyn also went fer a walk, or so I hear.

I was thinkin' of askin' if we can go elsewhere, but 'fore I could...

"Huh, check it out. Someone actually showed up," Matt said stiffly, pointin' o'er to a coupla other teens that jus' walked inta the field.

I could (thanks ta my enhanc'd hearin') manage ta make out whut them two was talkin' about... "...So, you sure about having this battle, man?" one of 'em, a guy wif a backwards-facin' yello-an'-black hat and wearin' sum kinda maroon/gray-color'd coat said.

"I'm _quite_ sure," the other, a teen in a red-n-black baseball cap an' wearin' a blue jacket an' black jeans replied. "Everyone tells me you're the best guy in the Johto region, and, with the tourney coming up, I was looking to see what I was going up against."

"Is that so. Huh. I've been hearing things about _you_, dude. So, I guess now we finally get to see who's the best?"

The guy in the blue coat scoffed. "_That_ will be decided at the tournament, my friend. For now, let's just have a quick test of our mettle, hm?"

"I can dig that," the other replied, smirkin'. "Let's get this over with then!"

Well, ain't that somethin'! I guess we get ta see sum action today after all! "A'ight! A battle's goin' on! C'mon, Matt! Let's sit onda stands, so we can see _all_ the action!"

"About time," the Snivy said dryly, chucklin'. "I suppose watching someone else get beat up for a change might help me forget about what that..._worm_ did to me..."

"Fer the love-a... Matt, Viridi only did that 'cuz you was messin' 'round wif Max! I admit it was funny an' all, but ya gotta understand that he's really 'ttached to him now. And seein' as how Viridi ain't got nobody but us, then we gotta look after 'im!"

Matt groaned. "Are you _seriously_ going to refer to it as _that?_ Ugh, whatever... Call that worm any stupid name you want. I still won't go near it, mind you."

I sighed, an' shook mah head. Yeesh, why's Matt gotta be so leery o' that Viridi? Once ya get ta know 'im, he's a pretty nice lil' thang...

We clear'd outta that field an' moved onta the bleachers, an' not a moment too soon. Them two trainers took places at opposite ends o' the forum, and seemed 'bout ready ta fight, too...

"...Oh, are you here to watch the battle as well?"

I jump'd a bit, and turn'd ta look to the side. That glasses-kid we saw earlier was sittin' beside me, Matt, an' Frank. I wasn't aware we'd gotten so near to 'im...

Before me or Matt could say anythin', Frank answered the boy's question fer us. "Yes, as a matter of fact. We're just spending some time outside. And you?"

"I'm usually here," the kid replied. "I find that observing the battles and making notes on battle techniques is quite enjoyable."

"My, that certainly is interesting," Frank said, noddin'. "What is the 'observation' for? Are you a trainer as well?"

The kid shrugged. "Well, that's what I'm _planning_ on being some day. As such, preparing a guide with battle strategies and techniques on raising Pokémon would be a helpful boost. And who knows, maybe I can compile a full guide that I could share with other novice trainers."

Frank seem'd purty impressed. Ah'll admit, _I_ was as well. "Such a guide would be invaluable," the guy observ'd, noddin'. "...Say, what is your name?"

"Isaac," the boy replied, still jottin' stuff down in his book. "That's my name, sir."

"Well met. I'm Dr. Peters, but most know me as Frank. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Likewise." Isaac look'd up frum his notebook at last, and turned to us. "...Oh, you have Pokémon, sir?"

Frank laughed. "Well, they're not _mine_, per se, but I'm taking care of them for now."

The boy a'justed his glasses, an' nodded. "I see. Hm... A Pikachu, and...a Snivy, correct?"

"That's right," Frank answer'd. "You do know a thing or two about Pokémon, that much is clear."

"I guess you could say that. I _have_ been studying for at least three years now." Isaac shrugged, an' look'd back at his notepad.

Finally, I decided to say somefin'. "Three _years_, ya say? Wow, talk 'bout dedication, pard!"

The kid flinched when I spoke, then slowly look'd back at me, then at Frank. "...Pardon me, but...did that Pikachu just...speak to me?"

"'Course I did!" I went on, crossin' mah arms and grinnin'. "Nice ta meetcha. The name's Warren, and this here is mah friend, Matt!"

"...Yo," Matt said quietly, 'pparently not wantin' ta get involved much.

"..." A'ight, that boy shure look'd...stunned. Maybe I shouldn'tve said anythin'? "...A Pikachu, and a Snivy...both of which can...speak? How...curious," he said real quiet like, jottin' sum more stuff in his notebook. "It's almost unheard of... Not that I haven't heard of talking Pokémon or anything, but...to actually see one up close..."

"They're very special Pokémon," Frank cut in, not soundin' real concern'd 'bout this or anythin'. "It's not exactly easy to explain well otherwise than just saying that."

"...Fascinating," Isaac murmur'd wif mystified interest, then went back ta goin' through his notes an' writin' stuff down. Huh... That seem'd like quite 'n...under-reaction. ...Maybe he's already seen sumfin' stranger than a talkin' Pokémon? Who knows...

Finally, the battle we were waitin' on started ta take place. The first teen ta call out his Pokémon was the blue coat, red-'n-black-hatted guy. "Let's do this, then! Come on out, Serperior!"

He toss'd up the Pokéball containin' his Pokémon, which burst open wif a flash. In seconds, a _huge_ green snake-like Pokémon had appeared onda field, lookin' ready ta fight. Them eyes really seemed intimidatin', e'en though they weren't even lookin' at me.

"Oh, a Serperior!" the glasses-kid 'sclaimed, flipping through the pages o' his notes. "That's the final evolved form of a Snivy! I've never seen one in the flesh before..."

That..._that_ giant snake is a Snivy's final form? I turn'd towards Matt, an' he jus' gave me a smug lil' grin. "Heh, well well... I suppose _that_ would be something to look forward to," he said, snickerin'. Yeesh, I can't even imagine somethin' so small getting' so..._big_... Thank goodness it'd be a (hopefully) _long_ while still for Matt to evolve (iffin' at _all_, seeing as how he'd need ta level up an' such).

"Huh! A Serperior, eh?" the other trainer said after the snake was sent out. "Never fought one of _those_ before. This is bound to be really interesting! Alright! Go, Typhlosion!"

Anudder Pokéball, anudder flash o' light, an' the next Pokémon was call'd out. This time, it was a 'mon wif cream-color'd and dark green fur, and _flames_ were spoutin' out along its back.

"And that one is...a Typhlosion, of course. I'd recognize the flame-proof fur anywhere," Isaac said matter-o'-factly, once 'gain referrin' ta his notebook. "The evolved form of Quilava, which in itself evolves from a Cyndaquil."

Woah, that Typhlosion looks even _more_ intimidatin' an' fierce than the Serperior! I guess the flamin' back helps wif the image, an' all. Though, it brings ta mind Samantha... _That's_ whut she's gonna become sumday? Yeesh, that seems..._less_ imaginable ta me than Matt someday bein' a Serperior... After all, she's so quiet an' kind, it jus' don't seem...

Isaac put a hand ta his chin, an' frown'd. "...Huh, type-wise, it seems that the fire-type Typhlosion is at an advantage against the grass-type Serperior..."

"It appears so," Frank said, nodding. "But then again, type match-ups aren't everything. Strategy is quite important. In addition to stats, moves, and the like, of course."

"...How do _you_ know so much about that, Frank?" Matt asked 'im, fer once actually makin' a good point.

The ol' man shrugged. "Well, back when I was still a youngster, I dabbled in Pokémon training. I didn't stick with it for a long time, since I decided to pursue a different field. I got more into research, and the like. Forty years later...I'm stuck with you kids." He laughed, and Matthew jus' roll'd his eyes.

As fer the battle, it was only jus' beginnin'. "Alright, Serperior!" the trainer inda blue coat call'd out. "Start off by using Energy Ball!"

Right when the command came out, that there Serperior was _already_ on top of it. It gather'd up a green sphere of sum kinda...well, _energy_ in its maw, then fire'd it at Typhlosion. I s'ppose the attack caught it off-guard, since it hit wif dead-on accuracy an' the resultin' explosion made it stumble.

"Oof! Not bad!" the Typhlosion's trainer called out, recoilin' frum the blast. "But how do you like _this?_ Typhlosion, Flame Charge!"

Right outta the gate, that Typhlosion got back on its feet an' the flames flarin' on its back start'd getting bigger. Wifin' just a coupla seconds, the _whole dang Pokémon_ was lit up like a torch.

"H-hot dang! That thang's all aflame!" I shouted, gapin' at the sight.

"Flame Charge... I've seen that move used before," Isaac said, _still_ flippin' through his notes. "It raises the user's speed stat. Pretty smart to get yet _another_ edge over the much-faster Serperior..."

An' boy, was it _ever_ an edge! That Typhlosion took off like a rocket, chargin' straight at Serperior all cloak'd in fire! Boy howdy, was this ever a sight fer me!

"Oh no you don't!" the other trainer shouted, raisin' a fist. "Serperior, counter with Iron Tail!"

"...Huh?" Isaac seemed quite shock'd, fer sum reason. "I-I didn't know that Serperior could learn Iron Tail!" he dang near shouted. "But how? It's not listed under the moves it can learn! "

The Serperior's trainer apparently heard that, since he look'd o'er at us and smirked. "My Serperior knew the move since he hatched from his egg. It's one of those so-called 'egg moves'!" he replied, right as his Serperior whiplash'd its glowin' white tail at the oncomin' Typhlosion. The impact made the giant snake recoil, and it sent the other 'mon flying back. Both seemed hurt, but only slight.

"...Wow. Egg moves...? And counter-attacking with a heavy physical attack to partially nullify damage? ...I should write that down," the glasses-kid mumbled again, and went on wif his doodlin' in that pad o' his. Jeez...

The Typhlosion's trainer seem'd ta be getting' a bit...irritated. "Grr! Again, not bad! But I think it's about time to stop playing nice! Use Quick Attack, Typhlosion!"

B'fore I could even blink, Typhlosion had got down on all fours an' was dashin' like mad t'wards the Serperior. That speed boost-up frum last time must've made that Quick Attack even _quicker_. And there weren't nuttin' the snake or the trainer could do 'bout it...

_Slam!_

Typhlosion ramm'd inta the giant snake's flank, makin' it shout with pain an' surprise. The Serperior look'd purty hurt by that, but Typhlosion seem'd a tad tired too. It could go either way at this point, I reckon...

"Alright, I've had enough! Serperior, use Leaf Storm!"

"Nuh-uh! Typhlosion, Flamethrower!"

Them attacks collided, a thick storm cloud o' sharp leaves crashin' with a blast o' superhot fire...well, naturally the fire won out. The giant grass snake came out werse fer wear this time...

"Ugh! We can still pull this off, Serperior! Let's unleash Solarbeam!"

"Typhlosion, Lava Plume! Burn through his defense!"

The s'spense was buildin' as both sides charg'd up their moves... Oh man, I swear I was chewing on mah paws like a nervous wreck even though I di'int have no nails no more... Even Matt seemed on edge, and Isaac was, well...he was tense too. The attacks were moments away now...

"Oh boy... This is gonna be big..."

* * *

_**Genta City Uptown – Sunflower Avenue  
**__**Subject 002 / Name: Samantha**_

"Isn't it such a beautiful day?" Marilyn asked me and Mary as we walked down the sidewalk beside her.

I nodded. "Yeah, it sure is…"

"I've always loved going down this area," Mary commented, smiling. "It seems like it's been forever since I last took a walk like this…"

Marilyn smiled brightly at us both. "Well, better savor every moment of this then!" she said. "We've only got a couple hours until we got to head back."

"Yeah, I know…" I said slowly, glancing off in another direction.

Our walk was going very pleasantly so far. In all honesty…I'm kind of embarrassed (in a good way). This is the first time I ever got to hang out with other girls, just like a 'group' of sorts. I mean, um, sure I got to spend time with the others, but…well, I guess I feel a bit of a kinship in this sort of situation…

Anyway, uh…we were walking down the sidewalk of this one road—Sunflower Avenue I think—and chitchatting with each other. I'm not exactly super-sure where everyone else was right now, but I guess it didn't matter much now... We could tell each other all about what we did today afterward, right?

My thoughts drifted off from our conversation as I began to daydream a bit. I couldn't help but wonder about all the goings-on in my life thus far…like, why exactly did I choose to become a Pokémon? Even _I_ don't have a clue…it was just...well...a gut decision. Though, it's pretty well justified since I'm clearly better off with Brian and everyone else than staying at the orphanage, right? Still…I didn't really know _why_ I chose to do so… And I'm still not really that sure what Brian, Frank and whoever else have planned for the future… I mean, it's not like we all have ESP or anything…

…Well, Steve does I suppose, but he doesn't count.

I began to think about all the things that made my life easier, too… Like, for instance, my new brothers and sister. It's been rocky at first, but, ah…well, they've been so good to me since then… Especially Maxwell…

Ohh… Why is it that whenever I think about him, I get this...odd feeling from somewhere within? It's like I want to…to…u-um…actually, never mind, f-forget I said that… Eh-hem…

But really…somehow…I wonder what we're going to do with our lives from this point on… Adults are always going on about us kids working toward our 'future careers', but how can we have careers if we're not even human anymore? I mean, that's something I just can't understa—

_**CLANG!**_

"OW!"

…Apparently, I was too absorbed in my thinking to pay much attention to where I was walking, and gone straight into some sort of metal pole at the corner of a four-way intersection. And not slowly either, I was walking at fairly brisk pace when I hit it… Now my head is _really_ sore…

"S-Samantha! Are you okay?" Marilyn exclaimed, rushing over to pick me up and examine for any injury. "You hit your head pretty good…"

"I'm…fine," I managed to say. "I-it's just a bump… I'll be okay…"

After Marilyn decided to put me back down, Mary crossed her flippers and looked at me with concern. "What were you dozing off about?" she questioned, raising a non-existent brow. "It looked like you were just staring off into space for a minute and then wham! You walk straight into that street sign!"

"Street…sign…?" I looked up at the thing I hit earlier, and, as Mary had said, it was indeed a street sign. One of the plates atop it, which designated the road it was parallel to, had words which spelled out _'Shepherd's Lane'._

…Wait… _That_ Shepherd's Lane…? It can't be…

"Hang on… I know this street," I said softly, sudden realization hitting me.

The other two gave me strange looks. "You do?" Marilyn asked me. "Have you been here before?"

I didn't answer her. Instead, I found myself looking to the right, where the sidewalk turns to follow Shepherd's, and I suddenly sprinted down that direction, wondering if _it_ really was there.

"_Hey! Samantha! Where are you going?"_ I heard Mary call after me, but I still kept running. I needed to see if it was still there…

Still running as fast as my little legs would carry me, and swerving around the legs of oncoming people who watched me with confusion as I passed, I finally found what I was looking for. Almost skidding to a halt, I looked out across to the other side of the road, at a building that was very familiar to me.

I stared at it for the longest time, in a sitting position, until Marilyn and Mary finally caught up with me. "Huff… Phew… Hah… W-What's up Samantha? Why'd you run off all of a sudden?" Marilyn exclaimed, panting.

"Yeah! Phew…huff…I was really worried for a bit," Mary also said, looked really exhausted from the marathon she just did. "We were...phew...really...gasp...ugh, I need to stop running so much..."

"…" I glanced at the two for a moment, then back at the building. Both girls stared at me some more before also looking at what I was looking at. Pretty soon it dawned on them what I was thinking.

"Oh," Mary mumbled, putting a flipper to her beak. "That must be…"

I nodded. "Yeah… It's…my old home…"

The building was a small, red brick structure, nestled in among the surrounding ones. On a sign posted near the front door, it read: '_Genta City Children's Shelter ~ "Opening our hearts to the young ones of our society."'_ Less than a week ago, this was my home. The orphanage I'd spent my whole life at. It brought back many a fond—and sad—memory…

...I wonder how everyone else I knew there was doing...

"...Samantha," Marilyn said at last, "do you...want to go see it closer? Maybe visit or something, for old time's sake?"

"..." I looked at the ground. In all honesty...I both did and _didn't_ want to. The people here, they _did_ take good care of me...and, well, the kids there are also nice (for the most part), but... No, I don't want to stay here. Not just because no one would recognize me anyhow, but because...it held...too many sad memories. Early memories...

"...No," I said finally, making up my mind. "I'd rather not. I have to move forward with my life." With that, I...just turned away from the shelter, and went on walking down the sidewalk.

Both Mary and Marilyn had to catch up with me again. "...Are...are you sure, Samantha?" Mary asked, sounding concerned. "If you want to just, I dunno, see someone there...unless, it was not a nice place..."

"It wasn't that bad," I said, trying to hide my slight empty feeling. "I just...don't want to hang on to such things forever. I'm perfectly fine with it."

"But...um...you don't _sound_ okay with just that," she insisted.

I let out an exasperated huff. "I said I _was!_" I shouted, startling my adopted sister. "Just _drop_ it already, Mary! God..."

"...If you say so," Mary agreed quietly. She shied away a few steps from me as we walked, but I payed no mind. Gosh, I was getting really..."steamed" for some reason... But Mary's constant yammering just...irritates me. I just can't _stand_...

"...Um, Samantha? Why...is your back on fire?" Marilyn asked me, nervously arching an eyebrow.

I froze. "...My...what is on...what?" Craning my neck as far back as I could, and looking to where she was indicating, I gasped. "H-huh? F-fire...? Fire?" What Marilyn said was true; there was a blazing (if somewhat small) flame spouting out of my own back! "Wh-when did _that_ happen?"

"You mean you...don't know?" Mary said, staring at me incredulously. "That fire was there ever since we found that old home of yours! It must've been five or six minutes now!"

"...But I...I don't even _know_ how to make fire!" I yelled, still in disbelief. "I haven't even made a _single ember_ ever since I became a Cyndaquil! S-so how...?"

"M-maybe you're learning something!" Marilyn suggested hopefully, now examining the fire on my back with interest. "Perhaps...perhaps this means you're capable of producing a flame now? Ooh! That _must_ be it!" She started to bounce with excitement. "You should try, Samantha! Who knows?"

I silently stared at her hopelessly, then to the still-blazing fire on my back, and then to Mary. The Piplup shrugged. "Um, well, go for it! I...guess," she 'encouraged'. I don't think it helped, though...

"...Okay, fine, I'll...give it a shot," I said, even though I was hopelessly confused about what to do. Just deciding to wing it, I took a deep breath then started to...exhale. That's all I did. And nothing happened...

...At least not at first. After two more attempts, I started to feel something hot rise in my throat... Was it...oh dear, I don't think I really want to do this anymore...

But I had no choice, as by then the hot substance rising within me arrived at my mouth...and promptly exited. With the sound of audible hissing, as if a fire was having water poured on it, a plume of smoke was escaping my jaw.

The other two started hacking and coughing as the smoke surrounded us, and I regretted listening to either of them all of a sudden...

"Oh dear—COUGH—it looks like some kind of—COUGHCOUGH—Smokescreen or something—COUGH!" Marilyn managed to say in-between her coughing fits. Mary wasn't much better off.

"S-sorry! So sorry!" I apologized, finally managing to stop myself from spewing more smoke, and the air around us soon cleared. Mary and Marilyn both took in deep breath of fresh air afterward.

"...Well, I suppose I was mistaken," Marilyn admitted, then coughed again. "Thinking about it...maybe you can't produce the proper fire just right enough...and if it can't properly combust, then there's nothing but smoke made." She rubbed the back of her head, and nervously giggled. "Sorry about that, Samantha..."

"It's...okay," I said, sighing. "But, I really don't think I'd even _want_ to make fire or smoke anyway..."

Mary nodded lightly, seeming to understand what I felt. The secretary Marilyn gave me a sympathetic look as well. "...Well, if that's the way you feel about it Samantha, then I can understand."

Right after that, the warm feeling I was getting from the fire on my back suddenly went cold. I looked behind myself again, and noticed that my flame had put itself out, somehow. That didn't last very long... Whew, but at least I don't feel so tense anymore. Still...how on earth did _that_ happen?

Before things became more awkward than it needed to be, Marilyn quickly suggested that we continue on our walk. So, we did. There wasn't a lot more of the town we needed to see, though...

"...Hey, Mary?" I said to her, turning my head as I walked.

She looked back at me as well. "...Yes?"

"I'm...sorry for raising my voice at you earlier... I-it was uncalled for... I-I don't really know what came over me..."

"Oh, no, that's okay. It was my fault for pushing you that far. I should have just kept quiet."

"But, I really don't like yelling... I think it's very hurtful to others if you yell at them, so...it's kind of a big deal for me..."

"...Well, then I...uh..." She edgily drew a circle on the ground with her foot, so I could tell she was feeling uneasy. "I...accept your apology then. But really, it's not a problem for me..."

"_...It is for _me," I quietly whispered to myself, and kept on walking. Mary quizzically tilted her head, as if hearing me, but thought not much of it and started walking again as well.

"Hurry up, you two!" Marilyn called out to us, having noticed that we both trailed behind. "We should go check out the beach next! There's still a half-hour left before we have to go back!"

Well, I suppose the beach would be a nice place to spend a little time at...even though I, er, can't really swim that well. I guess I can just lay on the sand for a bit...

Mary seemed pretty on-board with the idea. "The beach? Sounds great! It's a nice day out, so the water would be really refreshing!"

"Yeah, it would!" Marilyn said, giggling. "Alright, let's get going!"

* * *

_**Genta City Uptown – Strip Mall  
**__**Subject 006 / Name: Maxwell**_

"…So how you guys liking your milkshakes?" Danny asked me and Mark. The three of us were sitting at a table in the mall's food court.

Mark nodded. "Great, thanks."

"I suppose," I muttered, awkwardly trying to get a sip out of the cup, which was tricky considering the cup was almost as big as me (not even counting the straw). "I'll get back to you on that as soon as I actually _try_ this stuff…"

Danny chuckled nervously. "Uh…um…yeah… Eh-he…sorry about that. I probably should've got it extra small, huh…"

"_(Would've helped_,)" I thought bitterly, rolling my eyes. Jeez, you'd think a guy like him would know…

"Need any help with that?" Mark asked me, offering an assisting paw. "I mean, it looks like you're having issues."

"Clearly," I mumbled, but then smiled and nodded.

Returning the smile, the Lucario reached over and grabbed a hold of the cup, tilting the end towards me just enough for me to get a sip from the straw. I sampled the taste for a moment. "…Hmm, it's okay, but…it has a strange aftertaste…"

"That's probably because it's strawberry-flavored," Danny mused, holding up his cup and examining it. "It usually tastes like that. You get used to it though." The guy shrugged and started slurping his drink contently again.

"Incidentally," Mark began, setting down my cup after I'd gotten my fill, "did you know that strawberry milkshakes made in fast-food restaurants aren't made of _anything_ strawberry-related? It's actually a combination of over 59 various ingredients and chemicals that 'fake' the flavor. To be honest, it sounds quite silly to me...but, whatever."

Danny abruptly stopped drinking his shake and gagged. He was silent for several moments before he slowly put down the cup and grimaced. "Uh… I don't really feel thirsty anymore…"

"…Me neither," I concurred, putting on a disgusted look and thankful that I didn't have any milkshake in my mouth still, as I probably would've spit it out by now.

Mark stifled a laugh. "Sorry if I ruined your dessert," he said with a slight simper.

"Don't mention it," I and Danny said almost at the same time.

"…Say Maxwell," Mark said after a moment, eying me curiously, "I noticed this earlier, but I was waiting to ask…where'd you get that necklace?"

I looked down at the trinket around my neck, the Mystic Water, and then back at him. "This? Oh, this… It's a…um…well, why do you ask?"

He shrugged. "Curiosity, mostly. I'm feeling a good deal of energy emitting from it…"

"Oh… Uh, well…this is my Mystic Water… It's supposed to be some kind of… Um… To be honest, I'm not that sure…"

"Mystic Water?" He thought for a moment. "…Oh, right, I've heard of those before. Pretty rare, from what I gather. They're supposed to enhance the power of water-based attacks."

"Y-You don't say…" So that Manaphy in my dream last night really _was_ telling the truth… This little necklace is in fact real. But I still have to wonder…why did he give it to me? Or rather, why did Manaphy's "friend" tell him to give it to me? This has 'suspicious' written all over it…

Mark was silent for a moment. "…But how do you have one? Gift, maybe? Find it somewhere?"

"It was a...gift," I replied truthfully, but intentionally left out the giver's identity.

"Okay, but...why would you need one? Seems unnecessary… Unless you know any water-type moves…?"

I looked to the side and bit my lip. "Actually, uh…I don't… I...I suppose it's just meant to look nice...and stuff..."

"…Oh," was Mark's only response.

"…" Wanting to show him _something _I _can_ do, I removed the shell from my stomach and held it up. "Well, um… I can do _this,_ at least!" Gripping the blade-like shell tighter, I horizontally slashed the air in front of me (which startled Danny, prompting him to hide under the table -_-).

…But when I did that, something odd caught my attention. As I was swiping the shell, I noticed a glittering blue "streak" appear on the shell for a split-second, almost like a motion blur. Now, THAT had never happened every other time I performed the move, which surprised me.

"…Uh, you didn't, like, see anything just now when I did that, did you?"I asked, curious if anyone else saw.

Mark blinked, and softly shook his head. "Other than the fact that you used your scalchop to murder that milkshake...no, I didn't."

"Uh…" I looked back at the table, and gritted my teeth with embarrassment. The cup containing the strawberry shake had been inadvertently slashed partly in half, and the pinkish mass of artificial dairy was spilling out onto the table. Oops. "I…I _meant_ to do that…"

"So you hate strawberry milkshakes _that_ much all of a sudden?" He laughed. "Well, I can't say I enjoy them either. I ordered mine a vanilla."

"Y-yeah…" Returning the shell (Mark called it a scalchop, so maybe that's the proper name?) to its original position, and a tad red with embarrassment, I sat back down and promptly decided to forget about what I saw. It was probably nothing, anyway…

Danny soon poked his head over the edge of the table again from his hiding spot, and _boy_ did he look unnerved. "D-don't _do_ that, man!" he whined, shivering. "I thought you were going to try and slit my throat with that thing or something!"

"Don't give him any ideas Danny," Mark told him, smirking.

I looked over to the nearby fountain in the center of the mall's food court, where Steve and Viridi were sitting on the edge of it. It looked like they were talking about...stuff. I couldn't really tell. But I suppose it's nice that those two are getting acquainted. However, I can't say the same about Viridi and Matthew...

...Oh. Right. Matthew. Ugh. My tail is _still_ sore from where his vine grabbed and hoisted me skyward. Believe me, it's not exactly comfortable. Somehow, it reminds me of school, with all the wedgies being given out back when I was there...and it also brings to mind the fact that I may never be able to live it down.

I just don't understand that guy sometimes. It seems like his disposition is so...indecisive. Schizophrenic, almost. One minute, he's rather indifferent. The next, he's (relatively) friendly. And the next after that, he seems like he would gouge your eyes out with a fork if someone were stupid enough to give him one. But...he's still technically my brother, I suppose. I should learn to put up with it...

"...Hey, Steve?" I called out to him as I hopped off the chair and walked to the fountain, and the Ralts turned to look at me from where he was sitting. "How are you and Viridi getting along?"

"Quite well, actually," was Steve's reply, showing something of a smile. "For an infantile Pokémon, he's surprisingly...chatty. And he doesn't seem to have any qualms with the fact that we are speaking plain English, unlike normal Pokémon."

"..." I almost palmed my face. How could I forget about _that?_ I can't even believe that Viridi never said anything to me or Warren before... "Oh. Right. Of course, um... You...you didn't tell him _why_, did you?"

He shook his head. "I never explained it in detail. Since Caterpie—sorry, I mean Viridi—never really asked in the first place, we didn't discuss it for long. He seems to think it's a pretty cool trick, though."

Viridi, I noticed, was over on the other side of the fountain's edge now. It looked like he was just playing around without a care, and didn't appear to be listening in. So, I asked Steve, "Do...do you think we _should_ tell him why? I mean...y'know, along with the fact that...that..." I bit my lip before continuing. I haven't given this much thought _myself_. I'm...technically, I'm not even a real Pokémon. Well, I am _now_, but I meant that I was a human that became an Oshawott by decision. What would Viridi think of that? Being the simple young Caterpie that he is, he probably won't understand it very well...

"...It's likely he will discover that eventually," Steve said at last, gently brushing his robe. "If Viridi _is_ going to be living with us, in lieu of his mother's absence, then it may not even be a day before somebody says something that may tip him off. Perhaps we should just tell him up front; it would save us a _lot_ of awkward conversation later."

"..." I nervously tugged at the collar around my neck, as I might have done with a shirt when I was human. "But..._now?_ Here? ...In _public?_"

He shrugged. "It doesn't have to be here. But, the sooner the better. I'm fully aware that he's grown attached to you, Max, and seeing as how his mother is absent, he's already put his complete trust in you. I can tell from reading his mind a bit that Viridi truly believes you are his friend. He also is convinced that you're a real Pokémon; he doesn't even seem to consider the fact that we're speaking English and touring across Uptown with several human adults suspicious in any way. To him, it's just a interesting little quirk. Naïve as that little Pokémon may be, it isn't right to lead him further into a deception."

"...But Steve, he's already been through a lot!" I asserted, trying not to raise my voice too much so that Viridi wouldn't hear. "With all the stress he's gone through, telling him our little 'secret' might just hurt him more! Couldn't you tell that his...mother is not exactly...?"

"His mother is not dead."

"H-huh?" The strange, effortless monotone he said that single statement with was rather jarring. "Ho-how can you be so sure? When me and Warren talked with him, he said his mother was...'sleeping'. And he seemed all choked up about it when I asked what happened..."

Steve dismissively shook his head. "Um, yes? But you instantly assumed 'sleeping' was a euphemism for death, right?"

"N-not at first, but it seemed really..."

"His young mind is hardly able to comprehend and analyze such terrible situations. But I can guarantee that she is alive. When he said "sleeping", he really did mean it. She _was_ asleep."

"B-but...how do you even know that? It's not like you were there..."

"True, true... But don't forget that I can read thoughts. Same goes for memories that are relatively 'fresh'."

"...Oh, right..."

"Anyhow... From what I could tell, the 'bad man' Viridi mentioned several times _did_ injure his mother. And this man...he also _tranquilized_ her; so she was indeed asleep. Get it now?"

"Tr-tranquilized?"

"From the relatively vague memory, I could see that this man appeared to be some kind of...Poképoacher. A person that hunts and captures Pokémon for money. A despicable sport, if you ask me... Not even Pæin is safe from these thugs..."

"P-poké...poachers...?"

Steve lowered his head, and sighed. "That's right. His mother isn't dead...though, depending on her condition, she may be eventually. It seems all too likely she was captured."

"C-captured! But...here? Aren't there laws that forbid catching Pokémon within the park and city limits?"

"_Pokémon poachers aren't quite so bound by the law. To them, legality means about as much as a chewed-up wad of gum you might step on the sidewalk; worthless and annoying. They'll take whatever Pokémon they can get, and then sell them to the highest bidder."_

I jumped slightly, as the voice came from behind me. Turning to look back, I saw that Mark had been eavesdropping on us. "O-oh... Um... How long were you listening in on us?"

"...Right around the point where you mentioned 'Poképoachers'," the Lucario said quietly, gently tapping the table with his paw. "I...know a little _too_ much about them. You see...I had a run-in with one a few years ago. Back when I had only just joined 'Project Pokémon'. It was on an outing to the Uptown, a lot like this time... Only, I didn't really have a lot more 'friends', like _you_ do."

This little revelation intrigued me, for some reason. Mark had encountered a Poképoacher firsthand? "Wh-what happened?" I asked, the curiosity making me forget about my previous conversation with Steve.

"It's not easy to talk about...but...I suppose I can still tell you the short version." He took a sip of his drink before continuing. "It happened a few years ago, as I've said, on an outing just like this one..."

* * *

"_Come on, buddy! The tree is over this way!"  
_

"_I'm coming, Mark! I can't run as fast as you, y'know!"_

Back then, I had but a single friend. I met him while on my first outing, you see. Of course, he was just a Pokémon, but that didn't mean we couldn't be friends. I was one too after all. We got along great together.

"_We're here! Isn't this the coolest hangout spot ever?"_

"_Oh, wow! It is! I bet I could spend all day climbing it and _still_ not make it to the top!"_

"_Well, you _are_ kinda slow, pal."_

"_H-hey! I'm faster than all my brothers, at least!"_

We always liked to jest and bicker about which of us was faster, who was stronger, blah blah... It never seemed to get old. And I never thought it would end.

"_Hee hee! Wow, that was fun! What'll we do tomorrow?"  
_

"_I dunno, but I bet it'll be even more fun that what we did today!"_

"_You promise?"_

"_Of course! You're my best friend, after all!"_

...But, of course, we all know how such fantasies can easily be swept away...

"_Hahaha! What do we have here? A couple of unsupervised wild Pokémon? Hah! Easy pickings! Now why don't you be good little Pokémon and stay still while I capture you?"_

"_E-eek! H-human! R-run, Mark!"_

"_C'mon, let's get out of here!"_

"_Hah! You two can't run! No one gets away from me!"_

Before me or my friend even knew it, a Poképoacher had found us. We tried to get away from him...but, we were quickly cornered. I saw no other option than to fight back.

"_G-get behind me, buddy! I'll try and hold him off!"_

_"B-b-but Mark! He's really big and scary!"_

"_We have no choice! Just trust me on this one!"_

I was still a small Riolu at the time, so I wasn't exactly a powerhouse just yet...but despite what I was up against, I did my best to hold him off. I grabbed a nearby stick and keep him away for a bit...though, it soon broke. He swung this...I don't really remember, but I believe it was some kind of net. And it had a Pokéball fitted at the base of the loop, so that whatever was caught in the net would be captured into the Pokéball. It seemed clear I was doomed to an unknown fate...

"_Hah! You're mine now, mutt!"_

_"U-ugh! No...!"_

...but before that horrible man could catch me...

"_Get away from my friend, you...!"_

"_What the hell—?"_

"_Wait! No! Don't! You'll get caught!"_

...my friend jumped in front of me. He accepted the fate that was due for myself. He...he didn't deserve such a thing.

"_N-NO!"  
_

"_Aw, think you're so special? Letting yourself be caught first? Hmph, well it won't matter! As soon as I prep another Pokéball then—hey!"  
_

Before that Poképoacher could do anything else, I...I ran away. As much as I wanted to free my friend from him...I was too weak. There was naught a thing I could do anyway. My friend chose my safety over his own. His sacrifice would've be pointless and in vain if I ended up captured as well.

"_I...I'm sorry... I couldn't save you..."_

I never saw that man, or my friend, ever again. And I never went back to that forest. The forest in the park. The only place I could remember from that forest...was that clearing where I first met him. That's the only place I would rather remember than any other.

* * *

"...I know it seems like a pretty long-winded, sappy story," Mark continued, "but it means a lot to me. From then on, I promised myself that I wouldn't be the weakling; that in the future, such a thing could never happen again. As...you can see, I've been working on that." He made a slight gesture to his Lucario body and gave a weak smile. "...It's never a happy thing, to lose someone you care about..."

I had no idea that Mark, as normal (for a guy that became a Pokémon) as he seemed on first meeting him, had such a sad experience in his life. I've personally never lost anyone dear to me (not counting my parents, but I don't even have any memory of them, so I can't really count that), so I can't really say I understand how he feels.

But everyone else besides me apparently did, though. "I hear ya Mark," Danny said quietly, looking genuinely upset for the first time since I met him. "I lost my mum when I was just a little kid...back when dad was only just starting out this CPT stuff. I had to live with grandma for a while after that..."

"Well," Steve began, rubbing the back of his head, "I can suppose that when my caregiver passed on, I felt fairly aggrieved as well. I've...never had a best friend taken away from me, however..."

Viridi had just been listening quietly to us all for several minutes now, so it surprised me when his tiny voice spoke up as well._ "M-my mommy... She got...taken away from me by a bad man, too,"_ he said, sniffling as the thoughts reoccurred to him. _"If it w-wasn't for friend, then...I d-dunno what I would do, or where I would go..."_

"..." Mark's tiny smile gradually faltered into a mournful frown. "You...were very close to your mother, weren't you?"

"_Y-yes mister Mark,"_ Viridi said, seeming to be holding back an urge to cry. _"M-mommy was always there for me... Even when all my brothers and sisters grew up and left me alone, she was still there... I...I miss her..._"

"B-but it's okay now, right?" I suddenly spoke, putting a reassuring paw on the Caterpie's head. "It'll be fine, 'cause we're here for you! We can still cope with loss if we have someone who we can trust with us, right?"

Steve nodded. "True, true..."

"_I-I'm glad you're my friend then, friend!"_ Viridi said, his mood picking up as he looked at me with those practically glowing eyes of his. _"Th-that would mean that...you've saved me _twice_ now!"_

...Saved him twice? Since...when? I know I saved him from that forest in what I thought was a dream, which would be the first time... But, I don't recall ever doing something similar after that or recently... Unless...he was referring to...

"It's...a strange thing," Mark said abruptly, looking upwards in thought. "Me and my friend always had put our trust in one another... And we'd both lost something even before then. You could say we had a lot in common."

Danny, who had been silent for a little while now, spoke up again. "What a way to spend an afternoon, eh? Just sitting around in the middle of the mall... Me, hanging around four different Pokémon, three of whom are speaking plain English... Drinking milkshakes that aren't even real milkshakes... And not to mention the countless odd looks I've seen our table get from passersby... Yep, _this_ is the life." You could almost _feel_ the sarcasm that was dripping from his voice. Since when did Danny turn into Matthew?

"If it's any consolation Danny," Steve said, tilting his head and smirking, "then you should know that a majority of those people were actually quite jealous of you. They were under the impression that we are all _your_ Pokémon. You should be happy for yourself that people actually regard you with some degree of interest."

The young adult stared at the Ralts with a bored expression. "...Yeah, I feel like a freakin' Pollyanna," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "Oh, and please stop condescending me."

"Noted."

Mark chuckled. "Well, it seems clear that Danny is in a poor mood right now," he observed, cracking a tiny smile as aforementioned person huffed indignantly. "Anyway, as for my story... I usually don't think about it so much...but ever since I saw Viridi with you guys, then...let's just say I was reminded rather harshly of my past."

"Why is that?" I asked, curious about this. "Why would seeing Viridi make you remember all that other stuff happening back then? It seems...kind of unrelated..."

"..." He sighed. "You see...my friend..._he_ was a Caterpie as well."

* * *

_**7 hours later, at the Castelia City Orphanage in Unova…**_

"He is in this room, right here," Mr. Ferguson told the visitor as they both walked down the hall, stopping in front of a wooden door with the number '026' etched in the nameplate. "Aleron should be inside. If not, then he may very well be in the lounge area. Pardon, allow me to check."

The headmaster of the orphanage took hold of the doorknob, turned it, then gently pushed open the door and poked his head inside. "Aleron? Are you in here, my boy?"

"...Yeah," a voice from within replied.

"Remember the chap I mentioned to you yesterday?" Ferguson asked, and the boy made a sound of assent. "Well, he's here to speak with you now!" He stepped back into the hallway and turned to the visitor. "You may see him. I'll let you two discuss this alone. Cheerio!"

Mr. Ferguson walked back down the hallway from where he came, and the visitor slowly walked into the room, catching sight of the boy. He was casually lying back on his bed, arms crossed behind his head. A Lillipup was resting at the foot of his bed, seeming to be sound asleep.

"Good morning," the visitor said cheerfully, bowing slightly. "I take it that you are Mr. Aleron Bane?" The boy grunted in response. "I'll assume that was a yes. May I borrow this chair to sit on for a while?"

"Knock yourself out," was Aleron's eventually reply.

The visitor, wearing an oddly-casual getup of clothes, sat down on one of the chairs in the room. He took a couple of papers from his pocket and read them through for a moment before speaking. "So, it's a pleasure to meet you at last. My name is Brian Summers, and I represent PokéGene Inc., which is based in the Pæin region."

"...Pæin, huh," the brown-haired kid murmured, turning to look directly at Brian for the first time since he entered. "You're from PokéGene Inc.? And I've never heard of that company ever before...because?"

"We're not exactly...'high-profile'," Brian admitted, chuckling weakly. "But we're working on that. Anyhow, how are you? You seem quite well."

"...Thanks? I guess?" Aleron arched an eyebrow suspiciously at this man. "So, what's the deal? We're supposed to be talking about adoption or whatever, right? I've been down this road before..."

Brian shrugged, his smile fading a bit. "So it says in your records. Apparently...you lost your parents in an accident three years ago. Along with several other people that were involved, it would seem..."

"..." Aleron said nothing, but he seemed rather surprised that this man knew about it. He looked away for a moment, then sighed. "The boating accident... It was just supposed to be a weekend trip... They were going to the Liberty Gardens, but...the boat got caught in a nasty storm..."

"...And they were never heard from again, correct?"

Aleron nodded softly, closing his eyes.

Nodding as well, Brian folded up the papers he was carrying and stuffed them back into his pockets. "I'm terribly sorry about that. You have my wholehearted sympathy."

"..."

"...But, I have a proposition for you, Aleron," the man said, trying to brighten the mood. "As I said before, I come from PokéGene Inc. You see, we have been doing some experiments regarding the harmonization of Pokémon and human genetic structure. In other words, DNA research."

"Yeah yeah, DNA resear—wait...what?" The boy's interest was suddenly piqued. He sat straight up, which stirred his companion from slumber, and looked back at Brian. "Wh-what's this about...whatever you were talking about?"

"Pup?" the Lillipup barked, casting a curious look between his owner and the newcomer. The Pokémon was still rather groggy from being woke up, but it seemed as alert as it could be.

"Oh? That's a rather nice Pokémon you have there," Brian observed, placing a hand to his chin.

Aleron nodded, and ran his fingers through the puppy Pokémon's fur gently. "He was given to me by my parents when I was twelve... It was...a month before they died..." He smiled weakly. "His name's Hope."

"I see... Well, as I was saying," Brian continued, "I am a scientist currently researching the DNA synchronicity between Pokémon and human species. The basis of which may, and has in fact _already_ been proven to, benefit the field of medicine."

"...Okay, so..." The boy shared a confused glance with his Lillipup. "...What exactly does this have to do with _me?_"

"I was just getting to that. At PokéGene, we dabble in the fields of medicine that few others dare to even consider. Our experiments consist of utilizing a miraculous serum which I have dubbed CPT-019. As the product of our research, CPT allows any normal human...to assume a completely different form."

Aleron gave the man a weird look. "That...sounds unrealistic. By 'assume different form', you meant something else, right? ...Something else that makes a bit more sense?"

"I guarantee you, it is as it sounds," Brian assured him, then raised an eyebrow. "Why would I travel _all this way_ to Unova just so I could lie to you?"

The orphan bit his bottom lip and shrugged his shoulders. He had a point. Perhaps he really _was_ being honest? "Okay, if you're telling the truth...what is this CP-stuff for, anyway?"

"Glad you asked. CPT-019 is our special little project; it contains a special compound that me and the rest of us at PokéGene have perfected over the years. Simply put, with this formula, it allows the inductee to become a Pokémon. Six other kids, a lot like yourself, have already become of part of it. We have, thusly, decided to refer to the whole experiment as 'Project Pokémon.' A bit redundant I suppose, but the name stuck for us."

Aleron's eyes widened slightly. Become a...Pokémon? Is this man truly serious? Was he insane? F-for all the kid knew, this guy Brian may very well have waltzed out of the nearby loony bin (conveniently located two blocks away from the orphanage) and wandered over here. But how could this guy seem so..._casual_ about it?

It took a long time for Aleron to say anything. "So...what exactly are you asking me?"

"I'm asking you the same thing I've already asked those six other kids like you," Brian said, adjusting his glasses and smiling. "Would you like to come and participate?"

* * *

_**Next time, on 'The Pokémon Project'…**_

"Alright everyone, I'd like to introduce you all to our newest friend!" Brian said, patting the unknown kid on the back. He seemed rather quiet, that one. Why am I feeling déjà-vu right now?

"Oh, hi!" Marilyn said, greeting the newcomer with sickening enthusiasm. "What's your name?"

The kid looked around rather nervously, holding his Pokémon closer to him. "Al…Aleron," he said at last, obviously unsettled, but soon found confidence. "Ye-Yeah… Aleron Bane."

I leaned over to otter-boy and murmured in his ear, _"Dumb name,"_ to which he halfheartedly shrugged.

"At least he seems..._kind_ of friendly," he replied. "More friendly than _you_ in any case."

I gently slapped the back of his head after he said that. "Shaddup."

"_Hey! Don't hit my friend, meanie!"_ the worm complained, angrily staring at me.

"He deserved it!" I defended, waving a careless hand. Sometimes I wonder why they even bothered dragging that bug home with us...

**~O~**

_...Samantha..._

"Wh-who's there?" I asked fearfully, quickly darting my head around the room. Where was that voice coming from? "W-where are you? I...I can't see you!"

_I'm right here...with you... Somewhere very close...close to you..._

"Samantha, what's wrong?" I heard the voice of Maxwell ask, and he looked at me worryingly. "Why are you all curled up on the floor and babbling to yourself? Are you not feeling well?"

_Just relax...everything will...be okay..._

I shivered more and more, putting my paws over my head as if to shield myself. "P-please...who _are_ you?" What was this...presence I felt? It wasn't Maxwell, no...he seemed so far away now.

_I'm so sorry...for everything..._

It had gotten extremely dark around me. There was another thing with me though, and I couldn't even recognize it. And yet, it was instantly familiar. I felt a sudden cold heat run through my blood as I came to realize it.

_...My darling...Samantha..._

I felt as though I wasn't even alive anymore.

"...Mother..."

**~O~**

"...Well, I think it's clear that we have another 'Matt & Mary' situation on our hands," I muttered to Warren. "...Er, I mean paws. But...you get the idea."

The Pikachu nodded, gazing towards the newcomer and the Pokémon sitting next to him. "Yea, I hear ya Max," he said, a tone of dull resignation in his voice. "...Boy, he seems real upset o'er somethin'..."

"Look, the important thing is that I TRIED, okay?" I almost shouted, turning red in the face with embarrassment and quickly hustling away as Warren fired me a confused look. There was no way I'd admit that I messed up the negotiations like last time...otherwise he'd probably laugh his furry little butt off.

...This must be starting to become a running gag, or something. Why is nothing in my life ever easy? You always hear in these other books, stories, myths and whatnot about the 'good' people getting frequent breaks. No, none of that stuff here. At least not in the way _I'd_ prefer.

I sighed miserably. "As if I needed another reason to consider getting therapy..."

* * *

**A/N: THIS. CHAPTER. IS. TOO. DAMN. LONG! D: Gah, what is up with me and wanting to overextend myself…? Well, it was either a two-or-three part chapter arc (of which I hate immensely), or one really long chapter, so I went with the latter option. :P (And as usual, Aleron is an OC owned by...surprise surprise, Aleron's Sword. And Isaac is a minor OC that I created myself. I just decided to randomly include him here.) **

**In other news: YAY! TEN CHAPPIES AT LAST! Whew, that sure took long enough, eh? :P Now, how long d'ya think the next ten will take? XD ...Just don't get too used to having long chapters. The original chaps weighed in around 4-6 thousand words each...and it kept rising from then. But in order to make sure I can update more regularly, I'll be shortening thes****e chapters significantly from here onwards. Only the important chaps will be long. So, expect many more cliffhangers. D:**

**Speaking of which, surely _that_ little cliffhanger will leave some of you quite desperate to know more details, right? Don't worry, I'll try and be quick. ;) THE PLOT IS ADVANCING, PEOPLE. Until then, feel free to check out those other new stories I posted! Perhaps they'll hold you over for a bit...perhaps. And on top of that, I've gone back and edited all the previous chaps for errors, spelling goof-ups, and the like. Don't be shy to point out any mistakes! I'll gladly address them as soon as I am able! :)**

**Review where it's due, osha! Until next update, FARE THEE WELL!**

**-TheAuthorGl1m0**

**:D**


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